When I was younger, in elementary and high school, I used to lie, a lot. When someone would ask me a question, my mind would immediately look for a lie to tell. And I would play a game with myself, about how long I could act with my lie. It didn’t last long though because I can’t resist my laughter. And I am terrible in acting as well. I used to think that it was cool to trick and lie people.

But then when times got serious, and when I started working to improve myself, the conception of “cool” changed. I respected the successful people who were disciplined. I especially loved the Japanese samurai and their consistency with their words and decisions. I wanted to be like them. Both in their sense of discipline and their swordsmanship (I was an Asian kid, of course I loved swords and magic).

I realized how foolish I was to lie every day, and feel pleasure from it. And I also realized how my habit of lying was hurting my development and success. It was easy to lie to my mother that I finished my homework, and it was easy to lie to myself as well. My power of will was equal to zero, except for when I had to play with my wooden swords. It was really hard to do stuff.

But then I changed and I figured that I had the possibility to be great, and that it was the only choice. The first thing I had to do was to never lie again. It was fairly easy, because I totally changed my mindset and because I was a new person. I realized how easy it is to do stuff once you stop lying. It was either the truth or the truth, I had no choice. I couldn’t lie to myself nor to others. I got the sense of discipline.

From then on, I was always telling the truth, and lying only in the rarest cases where you have to, if you don’t want to offend someone. I made promises to myself, and tried hard not to break them. When I decided to wake up early, I had to wake up early, or I would be lying to myself. And when I would lie to myself once, it would be easy to lie once more, and then I had to discipline myself from the beginning again.

I was being consistent with my words, and my decisions. If I wanted to be shown as a successful person, I could’t lie that I was one, but I had to be one. I realized that being myself, meant that I had to be true to my heart, my mind and my promises.

Photo by: Laurent Lecordier

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