Telling the truth when it’s easy makes it possible to do so when it’s hard
You’ve probably heard the saying “don’t sweat the small stuff.”
Maybe good advice most of the time. Especially for dealing with others. But when it comes to personal honesty, you have to sweat the small stuff most of all.
Lots of times, we end up in situations where it would serve our purposes to be a little less than 100% honest.
Nothing earth-shattering, of course. White lies.
We’ve all heard them:
“I had a flat tire.”
“Your email went to spam.”
“I didn’t see your text.”
“My alarm didn’t go off.”
You know it’s probably a lie. We all do. But most of us let it slide — in the interest of expediency.
Besides, it’s such a small thing. Does it really matter?
Subconsciously, you know it does.
We’ve all heard the saying: “If you can’t be trusted in small things, you can’t be trusted in big things.” And it’s true. If someone will lie about something meaningless just to make life smoother in the moment… what are they going to do when the stakes are high?
People like to say they’d “be honest when it really mattered.” But do you believe that?
It’s like when you’ve known someone who’s a little lax about not picking up things that aren’t theirs. No matter what they say, when something of yours goes missing… who’s the first person you suspect?
The small stuff is practice. Every time we choose to tell the truth when it’d be easier to lie, we build our “truth-telling muscles.” And if you don’t build those habits when the stakes are low, there’s almost no chance you’ll do it when the chips are down.
We’re all born with the inclination to take the short-term win over the long-term reward. But if we want to get to the long term — where the rewards are bigger — we have to train ourselves to do it right when it “doesn’t matter.”
I want my kids to know that if I tell them something, that’s the way it is. I might be wrong sometimes, but they should never wonder if I’m lying. That only works if I’m honest all the time.
Not to mention, I’m in a high-trust business. If people are going to rely on me to help negotiate the sale of their property — maybe the largest transaction they’ll ever be a part of — they need to know I’m telling the truth.
So we should build the habit now, when the stakes are small, so we’ll instinctively do it when the stakes are high.
Now that I’ve spent a few minutes telling you how honest I am…
When it’s time to discuss buying or selling real estate, does it make sense to consider people that aren’t as honest as they can be?
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