The Lies We Tell Ourselves

We often lie to ourselves about the progress we are making on important goals.

For example:
If we want to lose weight, we might claim that we're eating healthy, but in reality our eating habits haven't changed very much.
If we want to be more creative, we might say that we're trying to write more, but in reality we aren't holding ourselves to a rigid publishing schedule.
If we want to learn a new language, we might say that we have been consistent with our practice even though we skipped last night to watch television.
We use lukewarm phrases like, “I'm doing well with the time I have available.” Or, “I've been trying really hard recently.” Rarely do these statements include any type of hard measurement. They are usually just soft excuses that make us feel better about having a goal that we haven't made much real progress toward. (I know because I've been guilty of saying many of these things myself.)


Why do these little lies matter?


Because they are preventing us from being self-aware. Emotions and feelings are important and they have a place, but when we use feel-good statements to track our progress in life, we end up lying to ourselves about what we're actually doing.


When the stethoscope came along it provided a tool for physicians to get an independent diagnosis of what was going on inside the patient. We can also use tools to get a independent diagnosis of what is going on inside our own lives.