“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.”-Richard P. Feynman

Why do we lie to ourselves? Why to we act as though the things we tell ourselves are not impactful on how we act and live? In this Monday Morning Mission I ask you to do something that has been life changing for me-tell yourself the truth.

Why do we lie to ourselves? There are three primary reasons

1. To avoid-We don’t want to change so we lie to ourselves to avoid it
2. To protect-We don’t want to shame ourselves so we try to protect ourselves by lying
3. To win-We want to think of ourselves as winners. We tell ourselves we are doing the thing we know to be wrong as a means of being successful.

Often the things we lie to ourselves about for self protection are actually just self rejection. We lie to ourselves because we reject the truth about ourselves. STOP! Be honest with yourself.

Why? It’s simple. The thing you are telling yourself to feel good is actually keeping you from doing the things that are good for you. Be honest with yourself.

The top three things research has found people lie to themselves about.

1. How many calories they eat
2. How much they drink
3. How much they exercise

Why do we lie to ourselves about these things?

Finally, if you are bullsh***** yourself, others are aware of it. You may think your lies you use to fool yourself work on others, but they don’t.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: TELL YOURSELF THE TRUTH!

Have a great week. Keep improving always in ALL ways!

JW