12 Reasons Why Honesty Is The Best Policy

Honesty is a great policy in life for many reasons. It may feel easier to tell lies in certain moments, but ultimately, they catch up to us.

We can save ourselves a lot of trouble by just telling people exactly what we think in the first place. Here are 12 reasons why honesty is best.

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Why honesty is best

1. Being honest causes less guilt

When most of us say something that isn’t truthful to someone, it causes us to feel guilt. We feel bad for not telling someone what we were actually thinking or feeling.

The guilt can weigh heavy on our hearts if it’s a lie that we have to keep up.

When you choose to be honest, you prevent yourself from feeling any of this guilt, and avoid the unnecessary stress.

2. Honesty gets you more of what you want

I don’t remember where I read or heard this, but there’s this idea that the more direct you are, the more likely you’ll get what you want in life.

When thinking of this deeper, perhaps it’s the case that when you’re not being completely honest about what you want, you’re less likely to get it.

You can test it out in your own life. Try beating less around the bush, and instead, just being straightforward with exactly what you desire.

You might find people are more willing to give you what you want than you expect.

3. Being honest can make you more confident

Think about the people that say exactly what they think and feel often. It’s almost as if they have very little filter in their head.

Few people could argue that people who are always honest aren’t confident. To act so boldly in expressing yourself to not worry about how people react, a person has to have of some level of assurance in themselves.

You can grow your own confidence by being more honest to others about what you think and feel.

4. Being honest gives you a good reputation

Perhaps we can all agree that most liars aren’t regarded as having a good reputation. In life, your reputation can be a determining factor to whether people associate with you.

When you choose to be honest, you display a level of character that makes more people want to gravitate towards you. It makes more people want to support you in achieving your goals or dreams in life.

Choosing to be consistently honest will establish a reputation that can benefit you all throughout your life.

5. Honesty makes people trust you

This reason is pretty obvious, but generally no one trusts a liar. If you’re not trusted, then people are less likely to work with you. People are less likely to be close with you.

Honesty builds a trust that makes people more comfortable to share personal things with you that may help you in life.

6. Honesty makes people respect you

As much as I don’t like how blunt people can be sometimes, I do respect when people tell me exactly what they think and feel.

It makes it a lot easier to establish a better connection with someone if they’re upfront about their desires and needs.

People may not always like exactly what you have to say, but people will respect that you don’t hide what you feel from them.

7. Honesty makes other people better

Sometimes people lie to others to make them feel better. While that’s a noble reason for doing it, feeling better doesn’t necessarily make a person be better.

When you’re honest enough to tell people when they’re not good at something, then they can practice more and get better.

If you’re honest enough to tell someone they’ve not been acting right towards you, they can decide to change and learn how to treat you better.

If no one was ever honest to us about our shortcomings, it would make it much harder for all of us to grow.

8. Being honest nurtures your relationships

The quickest way to make a relationship go sour is through lies. As I mentioned earlier, your honesty can make people trust you more.

The more people trust you, the more they’re willing to open up with you in a deeper way. When you’re honest about who you are, and you back that up through your actions, people can feel comfortable being closer to you.

You can grow a loving relationship that can potentially last a lifetime.

9. Being honest makes your words valuable

If someone just lies and says anything to make people feel good, you can’t know if they ever really mean what they say.

When you’re consistently honest, it puts more weight to your words when you speak. People can know you mean it when you say their ideas or creative endeavors are good.

They can know you mean it when you compliment them or offer them words of encouragement. It makes your words matter.

10. Honesty gives you peace

The less guilt and stress you have from lying, the more peace you have.

You’re not burdened by the lie you’re maintaining or keeping from someone. Instead, you live with comfort knowing that you’ve been completely upfront and have not been misleading in anyway.

11. Honesty allows people to like you for who you are

People lie sometimes to feel more accepted by people, or make people like them. There are two problems with this.

One problem is if people end up liking us for our lies, when they find out everything we said wasn’t true, it makes it difficult for them to like you anymore.

Another problem is if someone ends up not liking you based on your lies, then you’ll never know if they would have really liked who you are if you were honest in the first place.

In life, some people will like us, and some people won’t like us. It feels much better to be completely honest and authentic to yourself and find a person that likes you exactly the way you are.

12. Being honest can be rewarding

I can recall numerous stories where people saw a lost wallet, or a large amount of cash left on the ground somewhere.

When those people returned the money to the rightful owners, they were given some of the money as a reward.

While honestly won’t always lead to getting a cash reward, it can reward you with peace of mind, getting what you want from others more, and being more confident. I think we’d all enjoy being rewarded in those ways.

Why is honesty the best policy?

It’s the best policy to be honest because it can arguably cause you less stress in life and help you get more of what you want.

How can I be honest in life?

You can be honest in your life by choosing to speak up more about how you think and feel in the moment. The next time people ask you a question, be as truthful (and of course respectful) as you an possibly be.

Here are some other helpful tips on being honest.

Tips for being honest

1. Avoid exaggerating

The lies that seem to be most common are ones involving exaggerations about ourselves.

We say things that are a little too generous about our own abilities or talents.

Other times we may exaggerate how bad we’re feeling to get out of situations.

Be straightforward with any questions you’re asked. Even if it doesn’t impress people as much, you can still choose to feel good about yourself.

2. Reflect on your honesty daily

Treat honesty like any other goal in life by tracking your progress towards it.

The way you can do that is through reflecting on how honest you were every day.

You can get a journal and write about the lies that you told that day and think about why you told them.

Once you figure out why, think of solution to that why, and encourage yourself to be more honest moving forward.

3. Don’t leave out critical details

Along with exaggerations, another common way people lie is leaving out critical details.

We leave out those details because we’re afraid of the consequences that can come from those details.

While honestly may not lead to a pleasant reaction, you’re better off dealing with that reaction now rather than dealing with it later if someone discovers you lied.

4. Practice sensitivity

People can avoid honesty sometimes just because they don’t want to hurt anyone. But you can be honest while still being respectful of other people’s feelings.

Learn about sensitivity and practice using it whenever you have to tell someone something that will be difficult for them to hear.

5. Be confident in yourself

Choosing not to be honest in a way relates to being insecure. Confident people are usually less concerned with how people judge way the say.

Insecure people are more concerned with how people will judge what they say and thus choose to exaggerate as a result.

Use confident affirmations to encourage yourself. You can also learn about 7 scientific ways to be more confident.

6. Don’t be around liars

The people around us can influence our behavior. If you’re constantly around people who lie most of the time, you’ll likely feel okay with lying more often.

Instead, choose to surround yourself with people who practice honesty when dealing with others. Let their level of truthfulness rub off on you so you can be an equally honest person too.

Being honest isn’t always easy. Sometimes it can be a true test of our character to say something we know someone may not like.

But in the long run, life can be a lot better when you choose to avoid lying, and practice being more honest.

Inspirational video on honesty

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12 Reasons Why Honesty Is the Best Policy and Gets You More of What You Want