Honesty is coupled to every desirable character quality

While lying or telling the truth are things you do , their greatest effect is that they change who you are . Honesty and dishonesty fundamentally change who you are, what you do, and why you do it.

They shift every aspect of your inner and outer reality away from what is true and what is best, resulting in something worse every time.

People today think that one’s degree of honesty is one of many independent character qualities. The truth is that the presence or absence of honesty co-occurs with many other character qualities. Correctly identifying the qualities that are highly correlated with honesty and dishonesty helps to demonstrate just how important it is to be honest.

The following table contains a partial list of just some of the qualities that co-occur with being honest and dishonest:

|Honest|Dishonest| |---|---| |Sincere|Fake| |Driven|Lazy| |Deep|Shallow| |Strong|Weak| |Transparent|Pretentious| |Reliable|Unreliable| |Wise|Foolish| |Bold|Cowardly| |Hopeful|Fearful| |Reasonable|Insensible| |Disciplined|Self-indulgent| |Humble|Stubborn| |Joyful|Miserable| |Purposeful|Aimless| |Peaceful|Anxious, depressed, guilty| |Significant|Unimpactful|

As you consider each quality on this chart, you will begin to realize just how important honesty is.

One reason why people fail to connect honesty and dishonesty with the many significant character qualities with which it co-occurs is that they fail to understand just what it takes to be honest. Dishonesty is nearly universal because honesty is so difficult to achieve. Being dishonest is so common that most people would be shocked to realize just how prevalent it is.

Few people have ever experienced—let alone lived—real honesty. Real honesty requires complete consistency, and that is very difficult to achieve. Common examples of attributes that co-occur with honesty are actually just downsized in meaning and value—labels of great virtue pinned onto what are really just slight improvements over outright vice. For example, what most people think of as a deep person is just a slightly less shallow person than most. A truly deep person would surprise you with something new every time you spoke with them, even after knowing them for a lifetime!

Honest people are genuine and sincere. They say what they mean, do what they believe, and think as you would expect them to from outward appearances. They are the same within and without.

Honest people are intentional. They have a single transcendent purpose, and their thoughts, feelings, and actions are fully focused on it. Their goals align with and derive from their values. Their daily actions align with their goals and values. They do not act contrary to their values.

Honest people are driven. Procrastination is the optimization of present feelings. Honest people optimize long-term feelings by being productive. Their daily tasks are focused on achieving their long-term goals. They do not spend their resources in ways that detract from their goals.

Honest people are deep. The substantial relationships they freely offer to others provides a desperately needed break from the monoculture of shallowness that otherwise dominates humanity.

Honest people are strong. Because they always do what they believe is right, they can rely on and receive the power of God in whatever they do, providing uncommon resilience in the face of even the toughest resistance. They don’t quit. They don’t back down. They learn from mistakes and try again after failures.

Honest people are transparent. They say what they mean and they do what they say. While some will bristle at the things that are said and done by those who are free from the deceit of pleasing pretense, the virtuous few treasure their candor.

Honest people are reliable. They operate consistently based on the same set of principles, and are less likely to surprise you with emotional outbursts or flare ups of selfishness.

Honest people are wise. Their courage to face reality gives them a wider lens on what other people cannot see, assisting them in making better long-term decisions by more correctly assessing the available options for action and the long-term costs and benefits of each.

Honest people are bold. They do not follow the crowd, as most by definition do. They do not act differently depending on the opinions or presence of others or for fear of what others might think.¹ They decide what they will do based on their own internal compass, which they will not bend to match the expectations of others. They do what others are unwilling to do because they see value more correctly and in amounts greater than what others can see.

Honest people are hopeful. They do their best even if that means doing more or better than what presently seems worthwhile. They lean hard on the justice of God, fully expecting him to reveal that what is best is always worth the cost.

Honest people are consistent in their exercise of reason and discipline, no matter what they are doing or who they are around. They equally apply their intelligence to every aspect of their lives. They transfer learning across different domains. While nearly everyone does what is right and effectual in some or even most parts of their lives, only honest people will do what is best all the time, in every aspect of their lives.

Honest people are humble. They recognize those who are better than them, seek out their counsel, and yield to their wisdom.² Honest people adapt quickly. They are “quick to observe,”³ humble, and “easy to be entreated.”⁴ They have the ability to improve rapidly when needed. They take advantage of unexpected opportunities. They change their minds immediately when given sufficient reason to.

Honest people are successful in obtaining great joy and meaning in life. When your beliefs, feelings, and actions are always aligned, you are most likely to desire things of greater value, obtain what you want, and receive the greatest possible joy in doing so.

Honest people walk in total peace.⁵ They enjoy the confidence of a total lack of guilt,⁶ because they constantly follow what they sincerely believe is right. They know that they are where they are meant to be, doing exactly what they are meant to be doing, at all times, and in all places. They don’t waver in how they feel about themselves. They are at peace when alone with their own thoughts, because they have nothing to hide from. They don’t struggle with anxiety or depression because they have prioritized their resources to the greatest benefit and are constantly doing their best, and in so doing have freed themselves from what they can’t control. They enjoy the constant assurance that they are on the right path, doing the right things for the right reasons.

Honest people have a far-ranging and deep impact on other people. They provide outsized resources to others by sharing the results of their boosted productivity and their expanded awareness. For example, honest parents will have a markedly greater impact on their children in the instruction they provide, the advice they impart, and the example they demonstrate than dishonest parents.⁷ The same can be said of other honest family members, friends, and work colleagues.

Any person willing to obtain and maintain honesty is an exceptional person; their character will be replete with many other positive attributes.⁸ Similarly, dishonesty is far more poisonous than assumed by many, and anyone who lives dishonestly will possess many other negative qualities. These principles remain hidden to most only because their interactions with others are typically limited to wellregimented, repetitive, shallow activities. When obvious signs of pernicious character qualities do manage to manifest, they tend to be willfully ignored in a subconscious quid-pro-quo that expects the same in return.

Honesty and dishonesty will fundamentally improve or degrade every aspect of your life, including your relationships with others and the world. Your level of honesty will extend or diminish the depth and quality of your relationships with others, enhance or corrode the quality and volume of work you accomplish, and increase or reduce the value others find in you. Each of these effects will be explored more fully in later chapters.