The Importance Of Being Honest

Full disclosure--sometimes when I was a booth PA, I fudged how much a scene had stretched or tightened from my estimate. It was embarrassing to admit being wrong (even if estimating a script was a wildly inexact science at best). If all went well, other scenes would go faster or slower, and things would all turn out fine. And if all didn't go so well, well, I guess the embarrassment just got delayed.

All these years later, despite a great deal of experience creatively wording resumes and writing exciting cover letters, I find that I am ridiculously honest. If I don't know how to do something, I say "I'll try." If I believe something should be a certain way, I tend to speak up. If I know how a situation went, I tell my story, as I know it.

I stand by my PA fudging--it was a bit of mostly harmless self-protection. But these days, more often than not, honesty wins out. It has a certain simplicity and peacefulness to it. It doesn't mean that I can't try to do more than I am sure I can do, but it does make it okay to focus on the things I do well. It doesn't mean that I can't stretch and grow, but it does encourage me to embrace who I am.

It's important to be earnest--which is good for me, as I like to work hard and keep at things. Turns out the importance of being honest is right up there too. Especially when it's with ourselves that we can be honest.