LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE: TEN INSPIRATIONAL LESSONS FROM MANDELA'S LIFE

LESSON TEN: KEEP YOUR INTEGRITY

Integrity is everything

Living your best life means doing the right thing at all times no matter what. Although life can be challenging and you may be tempted to cut corners or take the easy way out, you have to be courageous enough to live with integrity. This is because integrity safeguards your dreams and the things you build in life. You cannot build a good business, relationship, marriage etc on deceit or by cutting corners. When people know that you consistently deliver on quality and can be trusted to keep your word, you earn their trust and they will always come back to you.

Many people lives, businesses and relationships etc have come apart in a second because they were built on deception, lies or people were not consistent. As a matter of personal protocol, don't allow yourself to do something that will damage your integrity and create problems for you down the line. You are human and will make mistakes. Instead of covering up your mistakes, take responsibility for your actions and try to make amends. You may feel embarrassed and uncomfortable at that moment but you would earn respect for doing so.

In the world we live in today, many people have made "the end justifies the means" their personal mantras and principle for living. Everywhere you see examples of people exaggerating (lying really) about themselves and their products. Advertisers selling "miracle" products (that never do what they say), applicants exaggerating on their resumes, companies overstating their earnings to attract investors, employees calling in "sick" to do their personal shopping, politicians covering up and even telling elaborate lies to get votes, governments creating propaganda to keep their citizens in line and so on. Even when they get found out, they make excuses, claiming they were simply being practical and trying to get the job done.

Unfortunately people have long memories when they feel that they have been deceived. And since nobody likes to be played for a fool and sure enough before long your reputation gets shot and you seize to enjoy their goodwill. And once this happens, it becomes difficult to win back their trust and all you have spent time building comes crumbling down.

Your success in life is built on the trust that others have placed in you or the product you are selling, so as much as possible, strive to build and keep that trust by consistently living a life of integrity. At all times, hold yourself to high personal standards and ideal and be consistent in living up to them.

Stay true to yourself

Integrity also means that you are true to yourself all times and to speak your truth always and not be enslaved to the opinions of others. People always have an opinion about how you should live your life and will try to manipulate you through emotional and social blackmail. They will try to get you to conform to the idea they have of you and try to box you into being their idea of whom or what they can relate with. The fact is that as human beings, we try to define and conceptualize the world into what we can easily relate with but don't let people define you. Define yourself for yourself and let your actions align with your own definition of yourself that is your best self.

If Mandela had conformed to the idea of what a black man in the apartheid era was, he would never have become the towering inspiration he is today. In his time, being black in South Africa meant being a second class citizen, confined to living in certain areas of the country, not being able to vote or hold certain positions, being told how to act, how to live, who to love and generally living under the subjugation of the system. It took incredible courage for Mandela and all those who worked to end that oppressive system to do what they did. These men and women refused to let other people dictate their lives or tell them who to be. They committed themselves to protecting the integrity of their lives even if it meant incarceration or death.

In Spanish, integrity is rendered "integro" which means to be whole, to be complete and unbroken. Living with integrity brings wholeness and peace because you are one with your true self. Recognize the value of your life and build to last, let integrity be the blocks with which you live your life.

Trying to live your life to conform to the idea that others have about you will only make you unhappy and stressed out. We are only created different, our DNA attests to this and even though people know this, at least in their heads; they still get caught up with concerns about what people think. You cannot be everything to everybody and be the best you. Have the courage to be yourself and to express your unique self. Others may not like you for it and you may create ripples along the river, that's just fine, a flawed original will always be better than an excellent copy any day.

You cannot be your best if you are not true to yourself. Be you, be always you.