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Am I being honest with myself? Am I being honest with myself? And to feel the full weight of this question, I need to add one word: Am I being honest with myself, really? Am I being completely honest with myself, really? And here’s why this is such an important question. When it comes to selling ourselves on bad ideas or bad decisions, we are all professional salespeople, aren’t we? You might not be able to sell anything to anybody else, but you are really good at selling yourself on some really bad ideas. We all are. The problem is, of course, telling ourselves the truth can be terrifying. After all, once we’re honest with ourselves, we become accountable. We become accountable to ourselves, which means when we hear ourselves giving our friends and family all those reasons we’ve come up with to support our really, really bad decisions, well, we know we’re lying.

Now, remember this. And this is so important. You rarely have to sell yourself on a good idea. You rarely have to sell yourself on the right thing to do, the healthy thing to do, the responsible thing to do. When it comes to those things, you just know, don’t you? Good ideas rarely need any defense, do they? When you start selling yourself on something, that’s the time to hit the pause button and ask the question, “Am I being completely honest with myself, really? If so, why am I having to sell myself so hard?” Telling yourself the truth, owning up to the real reason you’re considering whatever it is that you’re considering will bring immediate clarity, and that’s why this is such an important question to ask whenever you’re making a big or a small decision. Am I being honest with myself? Am I being honest with myself, really? Am I telling myself the truth or am I selling myself a regret?