Integrity First, Strategy Second

Like a thunderbolt to the psyche, those four words.

I wish I could take credit for them, but I heard them in an interview between Kate Swoboda and Danielle LaPorte last year (at about 12:19, if you're wondering). They jumped out at me; I've had them on my whiteboard ever since.

Integrity first, strategy second.

~ Danielle LaPorte

Whether you're sitting in a corporate cube, struggling to get your business off the ground, or managing a Fortune 500 company: integrity first, strategy second.

At least in my book, naïve as it may be.

I'm in the midst of a regroup, a refocus of sorts. I've been coveting strategy for the past several months, trying to ship out, write good copy, come up with a good minimum viable product, essentially, make money.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to make money, nor is there anything wrong with wanting to ship out, write copy, or develop a minimum viable product. In fact, I still intend to do all of those.

To fulfill my personal definition of meaningful work, they must be built on a solid foundation of truth – my truth (notice I didn't say the truth, here). So I'm taking a bit of a step back to make sure that's what's happening.

Integrity first, strategy second.

Woman Sitting, Blue (prints available here)

Living my truth in business means extending parts of me in a way that sits well in my gut, if you'll pardon the visual. In a way that feels right.

It means providing the best content I can provide – whether that's on my blog, my online shop or to my mailing list, and being the best colleague/acquaintance/service provider/collaborator/person I can be.

It doesn't mean I avoid selling or marketing my products, or strategy altogether for that matter. It means I do it deliberately, picking and choosing the pieces of the formula that work for me and replacing the ones that don't with something else.

Integrity first, strategy second. It means all of that.

Thank you Ms LaPorte for articulating it so succinctly.

~~~

If you haven't entered my bloggiversary giveaway yet, there may still be time! The deadline is 6pm EST, Tuesday, January 29th. Enter here for a chance to win a print of your choice from the shop.

On productivity and play...

creative play with dandelion, before & after pics (created using GIMP)

Yesterday I spent the afternoon playing with images in GIMP, a free image manipulation program with features similar to Photoshop. I let go of must-do's and played, with no expectations.

I ended up:

~ stumbling upon an image, by digitally modifying one of my photos, that would be a perfect book jacket for a book, thus inspiring me to start researching its publication,

~ drafting a poster for a project that's brewing,

~ figuring out how to transform images in a new-to-me way, opening up many, many creative possibilities for new products,

~ designing two new greeting cards for the shop, with two more in draft state, and

~ experiencing a powerful wave of creative energy that I hadn't experienced in a while, motivating me to carry on with my creative biz.

Right brain play translated into new projects and a renewed energy to carry them through.

The moral of this story?

Unstructured, creative play can be just as valuable to productivity and business as goals and to-do lists.

Try it. You might be surprised at the results.