Dear lovely people,
According to H. L. Mencken,
"The
truth that survives is simply the lie that is pleasantest to believe."
It got to a point where
Thomson was convinced he was a Project Manager. He had over the years been deceiving
people how much of an excellent Project Manager he was and even won mega consultancy
contracts. The bottom-line truth that was too hard for himself and his admirers
was that Thomson had no clue of project management because he was simply not
one.
When it comes to becoming
a success in life, self-deception can be useful because the truth about ourselves
can be difficult to acknowledge. Few people always want to know the truth about
themselves or seek it out. In fact, many people actively deny the truth about
themselves until they are forced to deal with it. We seldom see the world as it
really is. Our perception of the world is biased, our memories betray us, and
our true motives can remain hidden.
The capacity for self-deceit
is illustrated graphically in the life of Thomson, a secondary school teacher
who carried himself around ostensibly as a successful Project Manager. Not
content with his fake status, he equally passed around as Managing Director of
a prestigious consulting firm.
His
evil caught up with him when a brother to his concubine threatened to publicly
reveal his lies and true identity if he did not pay him a ransom. The situation
degenerated to the point where Thomson’s wife left him and many of the
contracts he had worn thanks to his fake identity were canceled. Astonishingly Thomson
was so self-deceived that he couldn’t see the error of his ways. After many of
his mega contracts were cancelled, he wept to his last days.
“Above all, don't lie to yourself. The
man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he
cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all
respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” That
is some blunt advice from Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
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