The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

August 18Enough Already

People acting gregariously are always in extremes; as they are one moment capable of higher courage, so they are liable, the next, to baser depression, and it is often a matter of chance whether numbers shall multiply confidence or discouragement. Nor does deception lead more surely to distrust, than self-deception to suspicion of principles. The only faith that wears well and holds its color in all weathers is that which is woven of conviction and set with the sharp mordant of experience.

James Russell Lowell—Abraham Lincoln (1864)

Today's reading is mostly about telling the truth, a practice that serves entrepreneurs in particular. Not much debate about that, but if the habit of your life has been untruthfulness you will find it difficult to suddenly act with a level of sincerity necessary to build trust.

So, there's that, but a closer examination of the reading reveals an even deeper truth: we deceive ourselves more often than we deceive others. Sure, you can do both, and at the same time, but lying to yourself is perhaps more destructive than lying publicly in the marketplace.

Today untruths, broken promises, overstated claims in the name of commerce are found out, but the little falsehoods we hold in our soul simply fester and contaminate our capacity to shine.

Things like “I can't (because I'm afraid to try),” “I'll ship when my product is perfect,” “I'm not smart enough, well off enough, young enough, old enough, experienced enough, connected ...