When Only a Lie Will Save You

Fabrications, fibs, stretching or being economical with the truth – call it what you will, but everybody lies—your coach lies, your mother lies, your best friend lies, your spouse lies, the police lie, politicians lie, and you lie!—you’d be lying if you said you never did. Euphemisms aside, telling lies is something you learn to do from a very young age, trying to conceal transgressions as cognitive and social skills develop. It’s no wonder then, that by the time we’re full-fledged adults, we often have the art of lying down to a tee and don’t hesitate to employ it to our advantage at any given opportunity.

The reasons why people lie are, of course, copious and context specific. That said, there will be a common element in the vast majority of cases, which in crude and simple terms comes down to this: we lie out of fear in order to save our asses. Bill Clinton, Rob Ford and Richard Nixon all famously did it, and they are only a few examples in the niche arena of politics. Another leader notoriously called out for lying a few years ago was then CEO of Yahoo, Scott Thompson. He was caught red-handed having overstated his college degree credentials on his CV. It goes without saying that you should never do this; at best you will be shamed, and at worst you may lose your job and seriously injure your future career prospects.

In all of these examples, the parties involved presumably thought that lying would save them from an uncomfortable or inconvenient truth. In reality, their lies backfired and made the situation infinitely worse. In this, they are no different from you or the rest of us.

Honesty Is the Best Policy

While lying might occasionally get you off the hook for the small things in life, it is almost never the best solution where the bigger things are concerned. Self-preservation, feeling cornered, and fearing unwelcome consequences are universal and comprehensible reasons for deviating from the truth, but lies will rarely do you any favors in the long run.

1. Telling the Truth Is a Virtue

• Choose honesty and integrity over deceit – people notice and appreciate it more than you think.
• No matter how convincing or poker-faced you believe yourself to be when you lie, people aren’t stupid; don’t make the mistake of underestimating their lie-detection abilities.
• Quit while you’re ahead. If you tell enough lies, it becomes a habit, and before you know it, you’re lying for the sake of it without even realizing you’re doing it.

2. Think Before You Speak

• When you feel on the verge of telling a lie, wait a moment or two. Many lies are impulsive, so an instant of reflection can be all it takes to prevent the act.
• Pausing for thought enables you to consider the consequences of an impending lie. Hopefully you’ll come to the conclusion that it’s simply not worth the risk or the trouble.
• Taking a moment to consider your words before they trip off your tongue can highlight a lie you hadn’t realized you were about to make. Understanding this can give you the determination you need to avoid blurting them out, a tactic for which you will be grateful and encouraged to employ in future. Gratitude, understanding, determination and enthusiasm are the constituents of a GudeJob!

3. If in Doubt, Keep Schtum!

• If you feel as though you’re stuck in a no-win situation and lack faith in your ability to tell the truth, say nothing instead.
• If silence is impossible, choose evasion by way of compromise. It will always beat lying and your conscience will thank you later.
• Lies breed more lies. It’s so easy to get stuck in a never-ending web of deceit, which could have been avoided if you’d never told the original lie at the outset.

4. Lies Come Back to Bite You

• Don’t assume that, just because you’ve previously got away with telling lies, you’re bound to continue on your winning streak in future. Your luck may well end in humiliation.
• Unless you have the enhanced memory power of a computer chip, appreciate that you’re unlikely ever to make a successful habitual liar.
• Once lies have been uttered, they can’t be undone. Always remember that anyone who’s been on the receiving end of your lies will forever have reason to question your credibility thereafter.

Lying Is a Vice

One of the biggest downfalls in telling lies, especially if you’re prone to chronic lying, is the danger that you will eventually start to believe your own tales. This can lead to the world becoming a confusing fantasy land in which you are no longer able to separate fact from fiction. With the exception of white lies, told to be polite or to benefits others, lying is a vice like any other – treat it with the eschewal it deserves.