Honesty is the art of telling yourself what you don’t want to hear. To know yourself, you have to be honest with yourself. If you are honest with yourself, you will be honest with others. When you are honest with other people, they will trust you. They will do anything for you. They will help you succeed. They will trust you and comet to you when they are in trouble.
You cannot be successful in life without first being an honest person. Nobody wants to work with a dishonest supervisor, manager, or boss. As a boss or a manager, if your people don’t trust you, you have lost it all. They will keep sensitive organizational information to themselves. When they are in trouble, instead of coming to you, they will talk to their friends, seek outside help.
If you want them (your people) to trust you, don’t lie to them. How? Make it a habit to always tell them the truth, no matter what. When things are going well in your organization, let them know. When things are not going well in your organization, let them know. Make sure you keep your promise. Don’t say one thing today, and do another tomorrow. If you say you want to do A, do A. Don’t say A, and do B. They will not trust you when you say something like that next time.
If you want to achieve success with people, with yourself, you must be honest with yourself, and with the people you interact with on a daily basis. You cannot achieve success if you are a dishonest person. Start telling yourself the truth. Start telling yourself what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. There is growth in what you need to hear. There is a disaster in what you want to hear. What you need to hear reveals reality to you. What you want to hear, on the other hand, prevents you from facing your reality. Without facing your reality, there is no growth. If you want to grow, face reality. Ask yourself questions that will reveal your hidden secrets- your strengths and weaknesses.
If you want things to change in your life, start telling yourself the truth. The truth will set you free.
