“The worst of all deceptions is
self-deception.”_Plato
When we fail
to act in line with our principles, values and goals, we are not being true to ourselves.
And to be incongruent is to live in disharmony.
We create
internal conflict every time our actions don’t match with our professed
intentions as the author of ‘Unshakable Character,’ Jim Rohn says: “Affirmation
without discipline is the beginning of delusion.”
For most of
us, this usually takes the form of giving in to distractions by doing what
feels good at the moment, instead of doing the right things that we know deep
down we really ought to do.
Though we
often want to justify our behaviors and convince ourselves we're still on
track, but a deeper reflection would reveal the truth of our situation; we’re
in romance with self-delusion.
Without
question, our behaviors directly translate into our results. Even with best of
intentions, to get ahead, we need to commit ourselves fully to self-discipline.
Every true success is a product of responsibility, ownership and
accountability.
To believe
in something, and refuse to act with purpose to ensure its realization is the
sure path to cognitive dissonance; the direct consequence of self-delusion.
A Day Is a Slice of Life
A day is not
just a tangible slice of our lives; it is also a miniature eternity.
If we goof
away our time in one day and still think it doesn’t matter at all, then we are
in a state of delusion.
This is so
for the simple reason that our entire lives are made up of a fixed number of
days. Once a day slips away, the downward slope has been ignited.
Think about
this: If we repeat our sub-optimal days, for the next five years, it is pretty
easy to predict the direction of our lives; isn’t it?
Now, we need
to be honest with ourselves and face the truth of our personal situations. We
need to admit that we procrastinate a lot.
We need to
admit that we engage in low value activities at the expense of high value ones.
And we need to admit that we rarely make the most of our days.
It is only
by being accountable enough to recognize our flaws can we begin to correct
them. In the words of Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, “I seek the truth...it is
only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance that does harm.”
In order
words, we should decide to turn self-deception into self-discipline by forcing
ourselves to do the things we need to do, when we need to do them, whether we
feel like it or not.
At the end
of the day, the only person who can hold us accountable for anything is
ourselves. And to turn out well in life, we must develop the mental honesty to take
full responsibility for our results by thinking right and equally acting in accordance
with our positive thoughts.
In
conclusion: we have to stop lying to ourselves
by turning every suboptimal element of self-delusion into a building block of
self-discipline, going forward.
