April Fool’s Day — the day when people try to trick you into believing something that is not true.
Of course, we spend the other 364 days trying to trick ourselves into believing things that aren’t true about ourselves. Don’t believe me? Think I’m fooling? Even Bonnie and Clyde thought they were innocent. Seriously. We craft stories that we tell folks to make them believe in the best about us. And we believe them them, too.
Why? The unvarnished truth hurts. It sends splinters into our ego. It tears down a very fragile self image.
We create excuses for our flaws. We spread BS to cover our mistakes. It’s easier to seek sympathy than it is solutions.
I got out of bed this morning to run. I had been “too tired” lately and had gotten into a mini-habit of sleeping in. If you had asked me, I could have given you a dozens reason why I should stay in bed. But this morning, I told myself the truth: I needed to get my butt up and get going. As I ran I thought about all of my failures (personal and job) — and you want to know what? Most of them were my fault.
Please, don’t get me wrong. I’m not beating myself up. And you shouldn’t beat yourself up either. But you the first step of success is knowing where the starting line is. And if you are living in some BS fantasy land of victimhood and excuses, you’ll never find it.
So April Fool’s! Hope you trick others today. Just do me a favor, don’t be an April fool. Stop tricking yourself today.