Deceive yourself!

It is time to shake off a lifelong delusion, dear reader: that you have to be self-aware to be happy and successful. I have spent years advocating self awareness professionally as a means to getting better results from your interactions with people. That was a mistake.

I’ve been observing popular, successful people. They are often overconfident, overestimating their ability to achieve great things. Confidence is attractive, and so they amass followers and supporters who will help them and share in the success that so clearly lies in wait. They become “the people who get stuff done”. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I reckon self-deception is also a form of self-preservation: convince yourself that you are great at something and you can feel happy with yourself. Which would you rather have: constant self-doubt or happiness and popularity? If you want the latter, quit being so achingly honest with yourself. Apply it sparingly.