The whole truth and nothing but the truth? You’re right. The world isn’t “court,” and we’re not under oath in our daily lives. Sure, we’ve spared someone’s feelings or fudged the truth just a little — or yes, maybe told an all-out lie. Still, Honesty Day reminds us to pay attention to our words on April 30.
Represent yourself to the world in the best possible way you can.
If you’re like most people, you’re utterly sick of the complete lack of honesty that exists in the world today. Whether it’s companies using misleading language on their products (Blueberry Muffins, contain no blueberries) or politicians being incapable of telling the whole truth of a situation, our lives are utterly inundated with a world of people and companies trying to sell us a line. Honesty Day exists to encourage people from every walk of life, and especially those in charge, to try being honest with their constituents and customers.
Former press secretary M. Hirsh Goldberg of Maryland brought this holiday into existence back in the 1990’s as part of the process of writing his book The Book of Lies: Fibs, Tales, Schemes, Scams, Fakes, and Frauds That Have Changed the Course of History and Affect Our Daily Lives. The concept for the day was simple, ask direct questions without ulterior motives, and expect answers of occasionally brutal honesty. While these situations create difficult relations between people sometimes, it’s the first step on the road to utterly healing wounds and creating clear communication that allows proper understanding.
Failing to be honest in relationships, in politics, and even in historical education has led to so many misunderstandings that we are all affected by them. When we speak with our friends and partners, we often choose to withhold certain words, not because they aren’t true, but because we can’t see past the hurt they’ll cause to the boils their lance by no longer being held within. While being honest on Honesty Day, you have to remember that being honesty requires honesty with yourself first. Once you accept your true feelings and motivations, you can clearly speak with others, and do so with complete forthrightness.
Well, celebrating Honesty Day is pretty simple on the surface, but it may be one of the hardest things you do in your life. Honesty between yourself and others can be extremely difficult, as it requires baring parts of ourselves that we may have kept hidden behind carefully constructed half-truths and lies of omission. Perhaps we’re afraid that what we have to say will hurt those we love, and possibly even cost us our job as we speak out about the dishonesties that exist within our workplace and families. It can be especially difficult with those who have truth’s they’ve withheld in the interest of sparing another hurt. Honesty Day is the time to lift those burdens from your shoulders, and let the chips fall where they may as you share your truth.
Author M. Hirsh Goldberg, author of “The Book of Lies: Fibs, Tales, Schemes, Scams, Fakes, and Frauds That Have Changed The Course of History and Affect Our Daily Lives,“created the day in the early 1990s. He placed it strategically on the final day of April to balance out April Fool’s Day (lies!) at the beginning of the month.
So — how often (and how well) do you lie? Check out our survey.
Honestly.
Go on, try your best to keep truthful. It shouldn’t be that difficult if you’re a good soul.
Been holding something back, aching to tell someone something important? Go for it today.
If you’re a leader in the workplace, it’s a good time to be transparent by communicating less over email and become more personally engaged with your employees via face-to-face and/or video interaction and with greater frequency. This will not only build trust, but more importantly set-forth a precedent that will establish a new type of loyalty and attitude that will ripple throughout the organization.
Honesty goes a long way. People get ahead by making the right choices and showing that they are trustworthy. This builds trust, which is essential for teamwork.
Sometimes when we lie, it can start a snowball effect, and we ultimately are found out. Trust in the notion that the truth always finds a way to surface, so just own up.
Being honest doesn’t just mean telling factual truth, but also being truthful about the way you’re feeling
