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When you picked up this book, you had a desire to achieve success. You are learning every day about ways in which you can triumph in life and be that one person in ten thousand who stands out from the rest. Here’s your chance.
An honest person is the exception rather than the rule, as William Shakespeare points out through the words of Hamlet. If you want to be exceptional—if you want to stand out in a crowd—it is time to practice honesty in all of your affairs. Are you up for that challenge?
Before you give this honesty thing a real shot, you might want to explore some of your deep-down feelings on the subject. Do you truly believe that honesty is the road to success? Or are you skeptical? Is there a voice in your head saying, “Wait a minute, there are hundreds of successful people in the world who do not exhibit an ounce of honesty.”
You can certainly find dishonest people in positions of power across the globe, but they are not the ones to emulate. What kind of life do you want to live? If you want to stick out in a crowd as an example of living a great life, choose honesty as your path to success. You will be happier, and you won’t have to waste time looking over your shoulder and wondering when you will be caught in a web of lies.
Your assignment today is to write down five successful people you admire for their honesty. List the traits they have that you would like to adopt.
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Another great advantage of honesty is that it’s uncomplicated. If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember your stories. You don’t have to keep track of the lies that you told people. Telling the truth is simple.
Johnny just didn’t feel like going to work. There was new-fallen snow up in the mountains, and he was yearning to take a day off and hit the ski slopes. The problem was that he didn’t want to use any more vacation days that month. He had a bank of sick days but only two vacation days left. So Johnny made up a little lie. He left a message for his boss early in the morning, before he would be in the office.
He plugged his nose and made his voice sound scratchy. “I’m sorry, sir. I have a terrible cold. I won’t be coming in to work today.”
Johnny grinned at his ingenuity as he piled his gear into the SUV and took off for the mountains. It was a great day of skiing. The lines weren’t long, because it was a weekday, and the sun shined brilliantly on the sparkling new powder.
Johnny stopped in at the ski lodge for a quick lunch, and his heart sank when saw a familiar face. It was his boss’s teenage son, who was on a high school skiing trip. As the young man walked toward him, smiling, Johnny’s mind raced for a plausible story to coincide with the lie he told the boy’s father that morning.
Have you been in a similar situation? Your assignment today is to journal about a time when you were caught in a lie. How did you feel?
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You are now moving into the third section of the circle mentioned on Day 60. This part concentrates on integrity. Living your life with integrity is the real essence of becoming a success. You have started to shine a light on various truths in your life, and today you are encouraged to continue to practice doing the right thing in all situations.
If you have hidden from the truth in the past, it will be difficult to change your automatic, everyday actions. Cut yourself some slack. No one is perfect. Living your life with integrity does not happen immediately, especially if you have practiced patterns of behavior that are not truthful and take you away from an honest path.
Your goal today is to change your patterns and practice integrity. Tape a slip of paper to your bathroom mirror that lists three things:
1. Have the courage to say no.
2. Have the courage to face the truth.
3. Do the right thing because it is right.
