The One Quality That Can Help You Create A Better Workday

“So long as I’m sincere nothing can touch me, for He will be my help.”

Time and time again, I’ve gotten into conversations with my dad starting with me asking the same question every time: how can you be so sure? 

And every single time, his answer was this quote: “So long as I’m sincere nothing can touch me, for He will be my help.” At the moment of writing this, I don’t know who to credit for those words. All I know is that hearing them throughout my life, I’m sure that my father’s faith is unshakable. (It’s extremely stabilizing to be raised by a person like that.)

And actually that’s the thing I’ve learned about sincerity. It’s extremely stabilizing. When I think about presentations I delivered, I was nervous like anyone else but I walked away from those audiences knowing I had prepared and shared everything I knew.

Or when I was given high-profile projects at work, I knew the opportunities weren’t the result of ‘playing office politics’ but because of my wholehearted approach.

Or even when a company I interviewed with rescinded their offer, I didn’t spiral questioning whether I had “faked it too hard” because I knew beyond a doubt that I had spoken my truth.

That’s the power of sincerity - it eliminates the internal chatter that plagues so many of us and creates self-doubt, insecurity or fearful regret. And it’s this internal dialogue that can be destabilizing especially in those moments when we need to lean on our sense of conviction the most.

But what is sincerity and how can I show up with it?

. . .

Merriam-Webster defines sincerity as having an absence of hypocrisy, or pretense or being honest, pure & genuine.

I know. This doesn’t necessarily sound like adjectives we associate with powerful executives. Instead we often focus on how to maneuver office politics or are given advice to fake it til you make it. But ultimately so many people try this and end up feeling anxious, insecure or uncertain about their decisions. So what can you do to navigate the workplace with more sincerity?

. . .

Sincerity demands presence. 

When you are being sincere, you are fully present in whatever you are doing. To be able to genuinely put your effort into something requires you to focus. And in order to focus, you cannot multi-task. Numerous studies show that multitasking doesn’t really solve anything and can in fact make you more unproductive. Trying to do multiple cognitive or analytical tasks at once can actually trigger more stress leading to greater inefficiency. So when you are practicing sincerity, it demands that you are here, now wholeheartedly.

Sincerity detaches from the outcome. 

The first question to asking what sincerity looks like for you in a given situation is to recognize your intention. When you define that intention, it is critical that what you want to achieve is process-oriented, not outcome-focused. In order to run a marathon, you need to complete 26.2 miles. Concentrating on 26.2 miles isn’t going to make you finish a marathon. Focusing on running -focusing on every step is the only way to get there. So being sincere means surrendering to the process and detaching from expectations.

Sincerity requires giving.

When you are being sincere - it cannot be ego driven. For instance, if you say you want to do good work, be a team player or solve a client issue, sincerity asks you to focus on doing that job well, rather than think about how doing that job well might get you promoted. The work you do is not about what you can get out of it but rather about delivering the best quality work within your capabilities. Recognition, promotions and raises come from self-advocacy based on the good work you’ve already done. Being sincere is having awareness of what you can give rather than what you can get and committing to giving.