Alex Shalman . comPractical Personal Development

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. ” ~Confucius~

Most of us have heard this famous quote before. Confucius states that you can’t achieve a goal, unless you start a goal. However, a single breach in commitment starts the downward spiral of your success.

Your integrity, the promise you make to yourself, is the only thing of value that you really have. The reasoning is that money, health, and friends can all come and go, but your promises and decisions are things you’ll have to live with for the rest of your life.

The only thing that stands in between you and achieving your goal is your commitment to yourself. Having high integrity with your goals means that you’ll find a way to accomplish them, no matter what it takes.

I’ve mentioned that it only takes one breach of integrity to break a commitment. That means, having just one scoop of ice cream, missing one workout, or stealing one kiss is enough to break the contract that you’ve made to yourself, your diet, your fitness, or your relationship. How many times have we let our integrity down?

They say once a cheater, always a cheater, and this applies to anything in which you give your word and put your integrity on the line. Once you’ve taken the first step, you are likely to repeat it again, so your goal should be not to make any exceptions. Your goal should be to have a character of unshakable integrity.

Have you messed up already? The worst thing that you can do is pretend that it didn’t happen! Promising someone that you will “stick to it this time” or that you “won’t do it again” is a waste of time; it just doesn’t work. You always end up making more exceptions.

The trick is to admit to yourself that you’ve broken this promise. Once you do that, start fresh by creating a new commitment. Track your progress by keeping a daily journal. You won’t want to mess up your shiny new commitment to yourself.