How to Develop Personal Integrity

Last Updated: December 8, 2022 References Approved

Personal integrity involves being the best, most honest and morally-sound version of yourself. Your integrity may stem from your religious beliefs, your personal goals in life, or from some other formative experience. When you work on improving your personal integrity, you enrich your own life and improve the lives of others.

Things You Should Know

Practice truthfulness, loyalty, and compassion, all while following your own personal mission.
Inspired by your values, choose a social cause to work towards in your day-to-day life.
Regularly incorporate mindfulness, meaning, and purpose into your daily routines.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Living with Greater Integrity

1
Live with honesty and keep your promises. Honesty is one of the most important aspects of integrity. If you are dishonest or misleading with others, you cannot live a life of integrity. Part of being honest with others also includes keeping any promises that you make. A broken promise is effectively a lie, and lying is inconsistent with living with integrity.^{[1]
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- Always be truthful with others, even when it lands you in trouble.
- Lying is almost always the wrong thing to do, especially when you lie for your own gain.
- If you're worried honesty might hurt someone's feelings, it may be best to say nothing at all. Excuse yourself by saying something like, "I don't think I'm the best person to give an opinion on _____."
- Living honestly includes being honest with yourself at all times. Check in with your thoughts/feelings, acknowledge how you feel, and be aware of how those feelings influence your behavior.^{[2]
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2
Show compassion and sympathy/empathy towards others. You cannot live a life of integrity without being mindful of and concerned for others. A lack of compassion or sympathy for others can often result in poor judgment, acts of selfishness, and ultimately a damaged relationship with someone you care about.^{[3]
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- Try to be understanding of how others feel. If someone did a poor job at work, for example, consider that they might be having an exceptionally bad day.
- Be kind to other people, even in minor ways. For example, when you go to the store, ask the hard-working cashier how their day is going, and wish them a good rest of the day.
- Help others whenever possible. You can do this through acts of charity, or by simply offering a helping hand to someone in need at work or on the street.
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3
Create a personal mission statement for your life. A good way to ensure that you're living a life of integrity is to lay out a roadmap for yourself. Assess where you are now in life and consider where you want to be in the future in terms of your personal integrity and moral character.
- Write out your goals and your values. Think hard about what kind of person you want to be and what you hope to achieve in your lifetime.
- Commit to developing yourself in meaningful ways. Remember that personal transformation takes a lot of work and dedication.
- The goal of your mission statement should be to provide you with guidance on a day-to-day basis. Whenever you feel lost or uncertain, your mission statement should help ground you.
- These statements should not be something you have to make up on the spot. Even if you've never articulated them, you should have a clear understanding of what guides you in life.
- Keep this list hung in a place you'll see every day. Stop and take a moment each day to ask yourself whether you're behaving in a way that will help you live out your statement.
4
Maintain a dedication to your values. Your values are what guide you through life. They're often shaped by your formative experiences, but your values may change as you grow and adapt to new stages of life. This is normal, but it's important to maintain a commitment to your values, no matter what they happen to be at a given stage in your life.^{[4]
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- Focus on what matters most to you. Let the things that are important to you determine how you treat others and how you live your life.
- Never compromise your values. Anything that is truly a personal value to you will not be compromised because it's convenient.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Standing for Something

1
Figure out what is most important to you. If you want to take your personal integrity to the next level, you'll need to decide what is most important to you in life. Only by knowing what you want to stand for can you begin to make that cause your own.^{[5]
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- Think about what you are most passionate about.
- This can be derived from your moral, ethical, spiritual, or artistic values, or it may simply be based on an injustice that you believe needs to be corrected.
- The things that are most important to you may be rooted in your life, your community, or the world as a whole. However, it's easiest to implement changes if you focus your efforts on what you can do locally.
- It may be helpful to remember the popular phrase, "Think globally and act locally." Let your cause be of interest to others, but work on affecting change at home before you expand outward.
2
Choose a cause selflessly. A pillar of personal integrity is acting without self-interest. If an issue is primarily important to you because it affects you personally, you may want to consider choosing a different cause to stand for. However, you may still be able to maintain integrity while championing a personal cause if you do so in a way that focuses on the experiences of others without benefiting yourself.
- If your cause is important to you because a given change would make life better for you, you may not be thinking outwardly enough. However, that isn't necessarily an absolute.
- For example, you may be motivated to raise awareness of cancer and organize donations for cancer research because a family member was afflicted by the disease. This is still community-oriented and does not serve to gain you personally, so it is a cause with great integrity.
3
Find ways to support your cause. Once you've found a cause that you can get behind, you'll want to find ways to help further that cause. There are many ways to help support a cause, though every organization may have different needs. Talk to someone at an organization you're interested in to find out how you can help lend your support.
- Monetary donations are always helpful to existing (and legitimate) nonprofit organizations. Just make sure your money is going to actually help further the cause by asking how donations are spent.
- Search online for an organization to volunteer with. You can spend your time helping social, civic, environmental, cultural, and educational causes while also improving your community.^{[6]
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- If an organization does not yet exist for your cause, start one!
- You can find some helpful information on starting a nonprofit organization by browsing through the National Council of Nonprofits' website, or by reaching out to your state association of nonprofits.^{[7]
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4
Make sure that your efforts adhere to your values. Through all of your efforts, make sure that you never lose sight of your values and your personal mission statement. Every effort you make to support your cause should further your own personal values and should help you get one step closer to living the life you dream for yourself.
- If you're sacrificing your values in favor of an easy gain, you're not adhering to those values.
- Your values should guide your efforts to help the cause you've chosen. Make sure you live with purpose and dedication.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Finding a Moral Purpose in Life

1
Assess what you consider to be the meaning of life. Many people mix up having a moral purpose with having religion. While religion certainly helps many people find meaning and purpose in life, it is not essential for someone to live a meaningful life.
- There is no absolute meaning to life. Every person creates meaning from their own lives. Life means something different to everyone.^{[8]
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- The meaning of your life should be what you believe your life is ultimately building towards.
- Do you want to dedicate your life solely to getting rich, or do you believe life should include helping others in some way?
- You may find that living a life of integrity and strong moral character can give life meaning in itself. However, this is something that only you can decide for yourself.
- If you believe religion can help you find your purpose in life, then pursue it. Find a religion that speaks to you, do some research online, and join a congregation near you.
2
Consider whether your life serves your purpose. Once you've identified what you believe is the meaning of your life, you'll need to step back and honestly assess whether you're living in a way that serves that purpose. You may find that you're well on your way, or you may realize that there is room for improvement.^{[9]
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- Be honest and critical in your assessment. If there's room for improvement, acknowledge it.
- If you haven't been living in a way that serves your purpose, that's okay. The important thing is recognizing this and making changes going forward.
- If you currently spend any of your time, money, or efforts thinking about or actively working towards your identified purpose in life, then you're already on your way to living with meaning.
3
Find ways to live with greater mindfulness. When you live with mindfulness, you are aware of your purpose in life and you actively try to demonstrate integrity. Mindfulness requires you to be conscious of the way you think, speak, and behave every day, and to work towards carrying out those activities in a more meaningful way.^{[10]
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- Focus on your senses. Think about the way things look, sound, smell, feel, and taste, and try to be aware of your reaction to all of that sensory information.
- Concentrate on your breath. Breathing mindfully, being aware of the sensation of each inhalation and exhalation, can help you remain focused and in the present moment.
- Try meditation. Meditating, whether through mindful breathing or mantra recitation, can help you gain a deeper awareness of your thoughts and your actions every day.
- Consider exploring religion. Not everyone needs religion, but many people find it gives their lives greater purpose and a sense of morality.
- You can find meditation and mindfulness classes in your community by searching online. You can also find information about religious organizations near you by searching the internet or by talking to practitioners you know.