Read Think & Write

While writing on a yet unpublished blog post, I noticed that whenever I was talking about myself I had the tendency to exaggerate. Just a little bit that it doesn’t seem too perfect but still slightly better than it actually was. I got mad at me because that is exactly what I do not want to hear from someone else. Instead, I want to read inspiring stories of success and growth including all the failures that have led to that success. We all love to read stories how people overcome obstacles and never give up or how they manage to live despite a loss of a loved one. In the end, this is life and not some perfect pictures and stories that make the rest of us look like as we haven’t accomplished anything in our sad life. It is so easy to write about our successes and present us in a good light but as we all know we learn far more from our mistakes.

As a writer, I want to tell the truth. The hard truth about success, growth and living a good life. A good life is not a perfect one. You can love your spouse and kids, have a helping hand for your community and think about your impact on nature without being perfect. All too often we focus on being perfect and forget about living a good life.

In that sense, I feel that we all have the obligation to promote truthfulness and the good life whether it is as a writer, parent, teacher, coach, friend or CEO. Just be an imperfect human role model in your community and make the world around you a great place, to tell the truth, fail miserably, then learn and grow even stronger.