In my last post, I discussed this quote from Jason Zweig (technically, from his father):
There are three ways to make a living:
1) Lie to people who want to be lied to, and you’ll get rich.
2) Tell the truth to those who want the truth, and you’ll make a living.
3) Tell the truth to those who want to be lied to, and you’ll go broke.
We discussed how coaches (and teachers, advisors, etc.) move others from category one to two. But another question remains for me:
How do we confront the truth ourselves when we want a lie?
A simple example: I would like to lose a little weight. I could define that outcome more clearly in many ways, but ideally, I’d like a thinner waist and a slightly more muscular upper body. Great, you may say! Watch the carbs, sweets, and other indulgences, plus some cardio for the waistline, and strength training for the upper body.
But let’s make this example more honest. The lie I’m telling myself is that a little strength training, some running, and fewer cookies will result in the loss of 5-10 pounds in a couple of weeks and make me look like a model.
The truth is that body type, age, metabolism, willingness to train correctly and for the right time and at the right level, diet, and many other factors impact this desired change. And the reality is much more complex, and I’m much less likely to do what I need to, to make the change as simple as the previous example.
The easiest people to fool are always us. We promise we’ll save more later…you know, after we buy this one more thing that we don’t need….just like we’ve done the last twenty times we said we’d save more later! We promise we’ll lose some weight. Coming up this January, right after we get through the holidays. And if we can just “be good” during the holidays, we’ll stay ahead and finally knock those ten pounds off in January.
And they’re all lies. Because the person we know most wants to be lied to is the one looking back in the mirror. Our problem, though, is that we don’t get rich when we tell ourselves a lie we want to hear. See, that category is missing in Zweig’s quote.
The fastest way to go broke (in so, so many ways) is to tell ourselves a lie when we want to be lied to.
With ourselves, we must always tell the truth. And when we face that reality, then we can begin to make real changes that can make ourselves and our world better.
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