My friend Jonathan wrote a blog article called Is Your Integrity For Sale?.  Jonathan’s article discussed an example where he had an opportunity to make a windfall for being dishonest.  Fortunately for him and us, he declined.  I want to expand on this topic a little because there is a much more common currency than money by which many of us sell our integrity.  That currency is the approval of others.

I think we all, to one degree or another and at one time or another, are tempted to sell out part of our authentic self in return for the approval of others.  I’ve always tried very hard not to do this, and in my real non-virtual day-to-day world, I’ve been pretty successful at it.  Whether or not I’m as successful at being my authentic self in my online world is a question that still nags at me sometimes.

I published the article Don’t Fake Yourself Into Failure and Unhappiness when my blog was very young, and it remains one of my all time favorites.  I think it is a favorite because it represents such a deeply held value for me.  Please take a couple of moments to read the article.  It is fairly short.

“If you sell yourself out to get approval, you will miss what you really want: authenticity, passion, and aliveness.”  — Alan Cohen

Are your actions intended to please your own soul or are they intended to win the approval of others?  Selling your soul for approval is every bit as bad and maybe even worse than selling your soul for money.  Don’t fall into that trap.  It will never be worth it in the long run.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and join the conversation.