Integrity entails doing the right thing, notwithstanding personal convenience, circumstances, or alliances. People who act without integrity have various ill-advised reasons. Some claim the world is overly competitive, and they had to compromise on their values to stay afloat or get ahead in life.
There will always be reasons for not paying heed to the ethics of your actions and compromising on your values. However, when you live a life without integrity, you’re only setting yourself up for failure.
This article shares what happens when you don’t have integrity.
Creates a Fake identity
A life without integrity is filled with lies and dishonesty, which eventually cascades into a completely fake persona. When you make yourself out to be what you are not, it requires constant stress and pressure to live up to that fake identity.
This is so difficult that psychologists have linked it to a leading cause of several psychological issues such as severe anxiety, depression, and a constant distrust of everybody. It also leads to alienation from friends, family, and even yourself.
Leads to Complexities
There is a popular saying that “lies beget lies.” You tell a lie and then must tell another lie to validate the first one. To keep it going, you must tell two or more other lies. This cycle never ends, and you will be forced to “lie about lies” forever if you want to be believable.
It will continue until your lies get detected, and you are caught. This is bad because the consequence of being dishonest can be enormous.
Loss of Trust
Distrust is another common thing that happens when you lack integrity.
According to various research, distrust doesn’t merely happen. Seldom will a person meet you for the first time and decide not to trust you. However, if this person sees that your actions lack integrity, they will quickly lose their trust.
Trust is fragile and, once broken, is almost impossible to restore.
Ruins Reputation
This is one of the worst outcomes of lacking integrity. You might be able to fool some people for a while; however, sooner than later, people will catch on to the fact that you aren’t honest or don’t follow through on your promises. Your reputation will suffer.
Reputation – like trust- is almost impossible to recover when it is ruined due to dishonesty, misconduct, and a lack of integrity.
