Comments on: The Ultimate Time Management Principle

By: Ian Scott

Ian Scott — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:03:11 +0000

Is 'truth' ambulatory?

"Some talk about truth but not about danger,
when you're on ice that's thin they'll tell you its winter,
without knowing their rules, their truth is a lie"

Chris Rea

By: Let’s All Tell the Truth, OK? — Jason Seiden

Let’s All Tell the Truth, OK? — Jason Seiden — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:21:49 +0000

[...] maybe having everyone always and only tell the truth is as the world “should [...]

By: Tim McMullin

Tim McMullin — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 21:51:00 +0000

Sure this appeals to our childhood inculcated values where our parents and presumably our teachers and other authority figures where concerned solely with what was best for us in absolute terms, and were more mature and knowledgeable on what that was. In the adult workplace there are managers and competitors who cannot be expected to hold our best interest in absolute terms. Adult workplaces are not like movies where the honest chap eventually gets his due and the prevaricating political chap gets his just desserts as well. I heard the phrase that "simple, fast rules are sometimes for 'simpletons'" and unfortunately that maybe true; life is complex. But I do think that telling the truth as we know it (and sometimes we may be a little too sure of what we "know") whenever possible and being forthright works best in most cases. I would always err on that side. Ditto with sharing information and your feelings. You will likely at some point get burned by doing both, even if you are careful but it's playing percentages really.

By: Diane

Diane — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:50:10 +0000

Great post, Keith!

@James: I agree with you about telling the truth as it can be damaging when delivered carelessly. It can also be a time stealer when you haven't developed the relationship which causes people to needlessly waste time figuring out your motives/intentions and deciding what to do about it.

I also think it's critical to examine what the truth is. My truth could be different than your truth. Initially getting all of our "truths" on the table could take time, but in the long run, it will save time and help us understand each other better.

In my communication with others, especially during times of conflict, I do my best to tell _my_truth without blame or judgment (Visionary archetype outlined in "The Four-Fold Way" by Angeles Arrien).

By: Christopher Johnston

Christopher Johnston — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:33:21 +0000

One of the reasons I like being an entrepreneur and working remotely is that I don't have to deal with office politics. I despise it and have little respect for people who engage in it. When I worked in an office I sometimes didn't have many friends because when I saw people jockeying for attention or posturing I called them on it and pissed them off in the process.

By: @mckra1g

@mckra1g — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:17:42 +0000

Genius. Mark Twain had it right: "If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."

Great post. Thanks for the forum. Best, M.

By: Alverta Kyger

Alverta Kyger — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 08:44:27 +0000

Generating a living online is often dissicult at first however Its those that be persistant to it that will succeed.

By: Deanna

Deanna — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:34:39 +0000

Italians have a saying that translates as follows: "Lies have short legs." Indeed they do. It's a much better -- and easier -- use of one's time to tell the truth and infinitely more complicated and ulcer-forming to remember which lie you told whom. Plus, it's exhausting to string people along. My boss -- a film and TV producer -- hates confrontation so, when people meet or call him to pitch ideas, he usually says, "Sure - I'd love to read it." And then he avoids people's calls or ignores emails. When people call me up to pitch story ideas, on the other hand, I listen and generally tell them right away whether it's something we would be interested in or not. Most of the time, the ideas aren't for us, but I like to think people appreciate my polite but firm no upfront.

By: Geth

Geth — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:30:40 +0000

Bob,
I told the truth, but the reaction of my manager was to reprimand me.
His reaction let me understand that maybe if i didn't tell him the truth it would have been accepted.
I think that there's a lot to do with the manager, and that mine has to affirm his authority so he better likes it when you don't confront it.
A lot of people prefer lies, even if they know that they are lies.

Geth

By: Jackie Kuehl

Jackie Kuehl — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:54:08 +0000

Unfortunately, Office politics are a way of life at most companies, large and small. How many companies want 'the truth' but the manager is just looking for validation of their idea, not real feedback. I'm sure we have all worked for firms where someone gets promoted due to tenure, not performance. A company I worked for allowed a certain number of promotions per quarter; therefore, the one getting promoted first was the one who would cause the biggest uproar if passed on. Not due to performance. I worked for a large Fortune 500 company where the only way to be noticed was to align yourself with the 'right people'. You could get passed by for aligning yourself with 'the wrong people'. That Fortune 500 company didn't want 'truth' they wanted someone to play the part.