Rohan's blog

It is bad to lie – that is what you teach the kids. Don’t throw waste, wash your hands, be polite, don’t fight – and all the good things.

But the moment kid grows up and is honest, he is bashed for that. Follow the rules and you will be labelled as a coward. So in a sense, we are teaching kids good things but only on surface. Once, someone implements them you look them in negative manner.

You reward the bad qualities and punish those who show honesty, truth and transparency. For example, in an interview for job, tell a lie that you are adaptable and you might get a job. Tell them you are slow but you will try hard and boom you are rejected.

When they ask you, where you see in 5 hours then you are expected to lie. If you tell I will be working here in big position then you will get bonus points. Tell the truth that you will probably leveled up and be working in a different company and boom you are rejected.

So you are feeding one thing and expecting a total different thing. This is what the culture is – and it will shape how kids perform, how much they lie. If the world is a slaughterhouse then you have to kill or get killed. What if you redefine the world a home to creative ideas, risky path and reward for doing work that matters.

You can guess – this situation is messed up. Lying as means to get by in this world is a standard. Some lies are the only way to get the work and others can be harmful. And among all of these are strategic lie.

Shortcuts

Fitness is a big industry because the pain to do the diet and workout is something not everyone want to endure. But they all want the magical body. They are looking for a shortcut which will help them become the best version of themselves.

So they resort to subscribing to different things – buying fitbands, subscribing to fitness magazines and installing apps.

But nothing can save them because it is you who needs to get up and take action, the hard way. There is no other way around. No one is going to do dieting and workout for you, we haven’t reached such a level of technology yet.

Yes, you can liposuction but I bet you don’t want to go under knife that often. And it is costly so out of reach for many people anyway.

So when such people come across a fit person, they don’t want to hear the details on how to get that body. They want to feel good and move on, take no action. So many fit people resort to strategic lying. When you ask how to get abs – they would say they have them all the time, its natural for them.

They do this not because they love lying. But the people asking aren’t looking for real answers anyway.

The same is true for other industry experts – if you ask an actor what is their secret, they will say it comes out of them naturally.

But they would be practicing and taking lessons for 4 hours each day. You don’t hear that, because you want them to lie all the time.

Social Pressure

This is the one where I do the strategic lying and I advise you do the same. Because society wants to give pain, stress to you. And the moment you tell the truth – they will do emotional blackmail, resort to being offended and many such tactics.

For example, if someone comes and tell you that their political opinion is a fact, you can argue to put rational thought but it is wise to nod your head and move on to next conversation.

You can help someone only when they are eager to listen to being wrong. For stubborns, leave them and let them discover on their own. And when they need you, they will come to you and then help them.

Or when you go to a relative’s house and you don’t want to eat because you are on diet, don’t tell them that. They will resort to phrases like – it is just one ice-cream and so on.

Instead tell them, you are full or stomach is paining and you will rest for now. I do this to avoid any further conversation or forcibly eating the damn thing.

Such scenarios keeps on popping, resort to strategic lie and move ahead. There is already enough stress for you to deal and there is no need for new ones.

Ideal

Would it be great if the people didn’t get offended and not take everything personally? Of course, yes. But that is the ideal world we are talking about where you can tell your wife she is fat and she is okay with it.

When you don’t call one of your friends to a party, she is okay with that. Wow, that would be awesome. People try to take everything to their heart and they feel bad and make you feel the same.

Avoid such scenarios – until we all reach an ideal world, smile and move on. You deserve better things to focus your attention on.