Integrity and Continuous Improvement

My life is rather causal, that is: I make decisions and get to live with the consequences.  Some are awesome; others are awful.  I decided to establish a framework for making better decisions.  I wanted to rapidly make decisions I could live with.  This framework – which I call Integrity - guides my decisions so I’m not in internal conflict or second-guessing myself.  It allows me to have true freedom.  Maybe things change later, but it allows me to stand up and say “I made the best decision I could with the information I had.”

I make decisions through some criteria such as:

1. Ends don’t justify the means

2. No such thing as a small lie

3. Keep my moral compass

4. Would I do this in the light?

5. My father once told me “Money comes and goes, but no one can take your word from you.”

6. I return constantly to “If I can be trusted in little, I can be trusted in much.” I say it as a challenge to stay upright now so that I can grow into seeing more of the world.

My second value is Continuous Improvement. It’s a two-sided coin. On one side, we have the ideal – it’s what I want to happen. On the other side it recognizes that I’ll make mistakes, and, as long as I’m honestly evaluating my progress and doing a little better every day, then that’s ok. It’s not a free pass. It doesn’t lower the bar. It simply says: the bar is here, did you make it? No. Why not? Let’s change that and try again.

Continuous Improvement is all around us. In high school, I wanted to be part of the “Gold Club.” It was a set of weight-lifting goals that only the top 3% of students could meet. We had to clean, squat, and bench. Squat was easy as I biked to school every day. Clean was pretty easy as it carried over from squat. Bench was my nemesis. I had no training and could only bench my weight: 175 pounds. I needed to bench 225. The bar was 225. Not “Justin’s feeling sad, let’s make it 220.” No – 225. Not “Justin’s trying hard, let’s make it 220.” No - 225. I worked every day. I knew where the bar was: 225. And every day I’d work and get a little bit closer: 180, 185, 190. Every so often I’d try and “bust out” to 225. On the days that I failed, I didn’t quit. I just tried again. As long as I was “moving the football one yard closer every day” I knew that I’d get there. 

I had Integrity with myself to know that I’d follow-thru with the goal. I didn’t have to do it all at once. I couldn’t. I tried over and over to do it all at once and failed. Try, fail, move the football; try, fail, move the football…over and over. One day I got there. I can’t say I ever lifted a pound past 225. Never made it to 226. Don’t know if I can lift 225 to save my life today. But on that day, I got there.

Continuous Improvement to me is the bar, mixed with grace to fail. Another high school story. I needed to get a 700 on my Chemistry 2 SAT to get into Caltech. I had no idea where I was at, so I took it: 530. Hmm, not quite 700. I signed up for AP Chemistry and took it again: 630. Hmm, not quite 700. I did some prep classes and took it again: 670. Still not enough. But I had to apply since I was out of time, I couldn’t try again anymore. 

In both stories - the point is that I redefined failure as quitting. Everything else was progress. I didn’t get discouraged. I was just taking a poll of where I was that day. Was I at my goal? If so, then stop. If not, then keep on.

Continuous Improvement gives me a sense of peace knowing that I may not have accomplished all I want to, and I will miss the bar a few times, but if I can keep pressing toward the goal, then eventually I’ll get there. At minimum I'll enjoy the journey!

So there you have it – Integrity and Continuous Improvement give me Freedom and a Sense of Peace. What are your values and what do they give you?

Artist's Corner: My cousin and I took today's picture at a Luau at Paradise Cove in Hawaii. I chose it hoping to invoke a) the freedom of the seas with b) peacefulness of tropical paradise and c) it might be a tad much, but the two tiki torches are paired together, just like today's two topics are a pair for me.