Never Lie ….

I will share one of the instances that happened a few years back that changed my perception of being honest in life. Life makes us stand at a point where we find two diverging roads, a path of truth where we can lose a great deal and people, and the other - where a little manipulation and storytelling can help us crack a deal or win people. But trust me, for long-term success, either at our workplace, business, family, or in any relationship, there is no alternate to honesty. If we are honest, then nature around us changes all the repercussions in our favor. I cannot forget a phrase that got printed in my heart - Whenever we lie to anyone, we have to remember it so that it doesn't get leaked the next time we meet the person. And what if we lied to tens of people, we cannot remember everything for sure.

I learned this mantra with many instances in life, and one such instance will blow your mind. I scheduled a meeting with a senior officer of a building material company. We had a great conversation over the call multiple times before some days of the meeting. He trusted me and asked to do a 2-3 days market survey with some follow-up work. But things turnaround as I could not perform the work we discussed. In each call, I told him about my medical emergency, which continued for the next 5 days. However, I could have lied to him and given him some manipulated stuff and figures, get the deal done in the call itself. But I was being damn honest. Truth is that I didn't perform due to an emergency.

Suddenly he stopped believing in me and didn't receive any calls. I can sense the communication gap and understood that I am on the verge of losing the deal. On the 7th day, I was traveling from Bokaro to Dhanbad ( a place in Jharkhand). I received a call from him. He gently took the conservation to get insight into my medical emergency. He was testing my honesty. The conversation followed by the question - What are you doing now? and Are you at your office? For most of the people, the answer would be that they are in office, showcasing how hard they work. Also, whenever you are in a job, you tend to manipulate your existence and work to your boss. Whenever we take leave for a vacation or tour, we generally kill a living human being, especially our grandfather or grandmother.

Back to the story, I told him that I am currently traveling from Bokaro to Dhanbad. He said - are you crossing the railway gate. I turned around my neck and he was behind me in another car. And What if I answered anything else. He was following me for the last 10 minutes. He was on his way to allocate the deal to some other person. He asked me to stop the car and join him. The next 45 minutes journey made him firmly believe in me and I grab the deal in the car itself. That's the power of honesty, my friend.

Lesson: If you lie to someone, actually you are lying to yourself first.