Integrity Is Freedom
Integrity is the skill that is the precursor to flow. Flow is the optimal state of human consciousness that delivers peak performance and wellbeing. You experience flow when all of your talent instantaneously flows through your decisions and actions so you can perform with impeccable focus and relentless effort. That’s why integrity is freedom. It is freedom from distractions like uncertainty, self-doubt, and loss aversion. It is the freedom to unleash the optimal expression of your talent.
Integrity is the ability to align your decisions and your actions with your conscience. It is a skill that can be trained and mastered like any other skill. There are two strategies to begin training and mastering the skill of integrity:
Devote your time and attention to the optimal expression of your talent.
Devote your time and attention to your non-negotiable priorities.
Once you have chosen your path, the next step is to make your decisions about the devotion of your time and attention in advance so you don’t get distracted by changes in your emotional state. Your priorities are your priorities, regardless of what type of mood you wake up in.
If you want to transform all of your talent into skill and peak performance, then you can’t be distracted by the trivial nonsense that appears throughout the day. If you want to serve your non-negotiable priorities, then you can’t be distracted by your pissy, little mood swings.
We struggle because human beings are easily distracted, so you need to set your integrity up for success every day by setting boundaries around your time and attention, then defending those boundaries. For example: “Your most valuable assets are your talent, time, and attention. I have too much respect for your talent, time, and attention to waste any of them by doing X. So, I need to insist that you show the same respect for my talent, time, and attention by not doing X.”
The highly neurotic people in your life want you to live with integrity. At the same time, they will test your integrity because they also want to run on the momentum of being distracted by the shifts in their emotional states. Highly neurotic people are intensely anxious. They often feel overwhelmed by the uncertainty of future outcomes. They have outcomes that they would like to see, and that’s why they want you to live with integrity, but too often they are focused on the odds rather than the stakes, and that’s why they can feel overwhelmed by the uncertainty.
If your partner is highly neurotic, collaborate on a vision for the most desirable future outcomes. Co-create a list of the non-negotiable priorities that support the family’s wellbeing. Then use that list to make decisions about how you will devote your time and attention. Those agreed upon priorities and decisions are your tools for defending your talent, time, and attention against temptations and distractions, be they internal or external.
Integrity is the ability to align your decisions and actions with your conscience. You can train and master your integrity by defining and defending boundaries around your time and attention. Integrity gives you the freedom to devote your time and attention to your non-negotiable priorities. Integrity gives you freedom from the distractions that waste your talent. Integrity gives you the freedom to transform your talent into performance, achievement, creation, and contribution.
The most effective strategy for living a life of meaning, fulfillment, and contribution is to maximize the amount of time that you access that optimal state of consciousness. Follow your conscience, no matter the obstacle and not matter the cost. Be the hero of your own journey. Never surrender your quest to temptation or distraction.