Be Honest

“Honesty is the fastest way to prevent a mistake from turning into a failure.” - James Altucher

The only thing worse than a liar is a thief. Liars make life difficult and often do not realize the far-reaching effects of their actions. Lying makes us unhappy people, who constantly have to be covering our tracks and watching our backs. In fact, there are few things as toxic as a liar. We should never allow the negativity in this world to force us to become dishonest people. Lying will only put you closer to the door that leads to cheating and stealing. Quit while you are ahead. Just think about the possible outcomes of a single act of dishonesty:

• Permanent damage to your reputation

• Permanent damage to your relationships

• Loss of income

• Loss of self-respect

• Permanently damaging the reputation of another individual

• Feelings of guilt

• Loss of sleep

• Loss of trust

If you research the word honesty, you find synonyms such as honor, sincerity, fairness, integrity, uprightness, virtue and truthfulness. Being honest requires more than not lying when in a difficult situation.

Being honest requires being morally upright in all things. In other words, we will try to be truthful in all things and gain the trust of those around us, by means of our actions. But honesty is a very tricky thing. It is hard to list all the areas in which we need to be honest.

A good rule of thumb if you are unsure if an act is honest or not, is whether you have to hide it or deceive someone into believing you did otherwise. If you will need to hide or cover your tracks after doing or saying something, you are probably not being honest.

The benefits of being honest far outweigh any challenges you may perceive as a result of this course. Think of the peace of mind of not having to rethink your every move or watching over your shoulder because you are constantly in fear of being found out. Imagine waking up and not being burdened by the heavy guilt as a result of your actions. And don’t be fooled into thinking that no one benefits from your honesty. It is very easy to become attracted to and to respect someone who is honest. Most employers include that quality as being of the utmost importance when seeking new recruits or considering a possible promotion of someone within their organization.

Being honest does not mean that we should volunteer all of our confidential affairs to everyone who is trying to pry into our business. Instead, we should not withhold relevant information from individuals who deserve a truthful answer.

Being honest also means avoiding the various means that will pop up to get more than we deserve or leading someone to believe something about ourselves that is not true. There are, however, times when some of us might find ourselves in very catastrophic situations because we are thought of as being too honest.

This is often the case when our words are not tempered with kindness. The next chapter will explore how that attribute can help us avoid a lot of the problems that can result from that sort of speech.