My 2017 Integrity Report

Today, I am publishing my first Integrity Report.

My hope is that my Integrity Report will become a yearly ritual that forces me to think about how I am living out my values in real life and pushes me to serve you in a better way.

There are 3 questions that I’m going to answer in my Integrity Report (feel free to use these for your own integrity report if you want).

I got the idea from author James Clear, so I want to thank him for that.  Here are the questions I’m going to answer:

1. What are the core values that drive my life and work?
2. How am I living and working with integrity right now?
3. How can I set a higher standard in the future?

All right, let’s dig in…

1. What are the core values that drive my life and work?

Here are my core values and some questions that I use to think more deeply about each area.

Growth (Learning, Adventure, and Taking Action)

• Am I learning new things, exploring different places, and experimenting with ideas?
• Am I setting a higher standard in work and in life?
• Am I taking action on the things that are important to me?

Self-respect (Authenticity, Balance, and Kindness)

• Am I living a balanced life?
• Am I living authentically?
• Am I giving myself permission to be happy with who I am right now?

Contribution (Generosity, Service, and Community)

• Am I contributing to the world or just consuming it?
• Am I someone others can count on?
• Am I helping to make life better for others?

2. How am I living and working with integrity right now?

Here are some choices and changes I’ve made in the past year to lead with more integrity.

More consistent learning and writing.

I’ve made a conscious effort to read more books and write more consistently on the blog. I hope you’ve noticed!

If you’re looking for some great reads, I picked out my top favourite 15 books from the year. You really can’t go wrong with any of them.

I’m also learning how to change habits and have gotten a better understanding of what effective growth looks like.

In short, it’s about cultivating a growth mindset and focusing on the process over outcomes.

Prioritised my meditation practice.

I’ve prioritised my meditation practice and found it useful in increasing both my productivity and well-being.

Some days are harder than others, but I’ve only missed a few days this year. Overall, this is a major improvement from when I started in 2016.

Taking up on more volunteer opportunities.

I’ve taken part in more volunteer opportunities this year, which has been fun and rewarding.

For example, I was a mentor at The Good Talents Program and I’ve also taken part in charity races.

3. How can I set a higher standard in the future?

Get more organised.

To make an even larger contribution, I need to get better at setting up processes and systems. It’s not something I’m naturally good at, so it will be a challenge for me.

But I see that such a step is necessary since I am getting more responsibilities, both at home and at work. Setting a higher standard for how I organise my day-to-day life is key.

Experiment with small habits.

To make more progress, I want to play with small habits. Let me know in the comments if that’s something you’d be interested in, too, and we could work together as a community.

I’ve discovered the power of small habits and how they can improve your life. It’d be useful to experiment with this approach in the coming year, to raise the standards of my behaviour and day-to-day life.

Seek out more volunteer opportunities.

This past year, I’ve let a lot of volunteering opportunities come to me. I can be more proactive in this area, for instance by completing my application to Berättarministeriet and seek out other such activities.

The bottom line

This was my first integrity report.

I share it with you because I think it’s important to hold myself accountable for my actions (or, in some cases, lack of action).

It’s very easy to let “just this once” errors happen, and there are some things I’m not proud of this year. But instead of beating myself up over it, I’m going to get better at learning from these mistakes and moving on.

I’m far from perfect, but that’s never been the point. The point is to live a life that’s true to yourself and that contributes to the world at large.

I know I still have a long way to go, but if I can maintain the things that are going well and commit to one or two areas of improvement, then I should be able to deliver an even higher quality of work to you each week.

As always, thank you for reading my blog and for being a part of this community. I’ll do my best to continue to deliver valauble stories and ideas that make your life better.

Watch my integrity report as a video

In the spirit of a growth mindset and having fun, I put together this blog post into a video for you.

Enjoy!