We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.– Niccolò Machiavelli
"Everybody tells me that I'm a great cook! Do you want to try my birdseed pizza? It's my personal specialty!" (No, not really. It's a picture of a sesame cracker.)
What does that mean?
The quote is saying that if you have had a stroke of luck, and ended up in an advantageous position, it’s fair to credit (good) fortune for your success. If you ended up in an advantageous position because of your virtues (hard work, honesty, etc), then it is fair to credit virtue for your success.
What the quote cautions you against is misattribution of your success to one of these reasons when neither is the case. The trouble with doing this is that you may end up believing the lie. If you believe you are achieving success due to your brilliance and hard work when you are not, that is not going to end well, is it?
Why is being honest with yourself important?
Being honest with yourself is necessary to being your best possible self. Without honesty within yourself, you cannot get accurate feedback. Without accurate feedback, how can you know if you are improving (technically, morally or intellectually)? How can you become a better person when the stories you tell yourself are all lies, distortions or half-truths?
If you lie or deceive yourself about why you succeeded at something, how will you ever be able to repeat the feat? How will you be able to build on that success and achieve even greater feats, without being honest with yourself? This is why it is critical to be honest with yourself.
Where can I apply this in my life?
When I was a kid, my parents used to tell me that I was the luckiest kid in the world. Not because I had them for parents, but because things tended to roll my way. It was most apparent when I was crashing my bicycle and skateboard, or falling off of (or out of) trees, rooftops, swing sets, rock piles and anything else that usually sent kids to the emergency room.
If I hadn’t believed them, if I had told myself that I was just that good at landing on my feet, what do you think would have happened if I had deliberately done something stupid and relied on my imaginary ‘skill’ to protect me? It only took a few times of doing exactly those kind of stupid things to convince me that I shouldn’t push my luck.
This post is going to ask you to dig deep, and face some of the stories you have been telling yourself. To peel back the half-truths, the deceptions and the lies. While it won’t be fun, it will be revealing, and you will only get out of it what you are willing to put into it. Ready?
Due to the sensitive nature of what you will be doing, I won’t ask you to grab some paper, but it would probably help if you do. Think of your past, and what you believe about yourself. Have you been telling yourself that you are handsome/pretty? That you sing well, play an instrument well, or are a good dancer? Are you lucky, skilled, quick on your feet or …
The question to ask yourself: “Is it true? Are you really this thing?” Well, are you? What do you have as evidence? How else could the evidence be interpreted? More importantly, is it still true?
Like my belief that I wasn’t lucky but skilled at avoiding injury in accidents, there was another explanation. I managed to scrape myself up pretty badly a time or two before I figured out the proper explanation and changed what I told myself.
As for the “Is it still true?”, I haven’t tried to test it lately, and hope not to do so any time soon. However, for you, does the story you have been telling yourself still hold, or have circumstances changed? I used to be a great trombone player. I dug the old ‘bone out a few weeks ago, and the kids laughed at the noised that came out of it. It was clear to all within earshot, I am no longer a good trombone player. ;(
How have you done? Have you looked at an aspect of your life, what you tell yourself about your abilities, skills, luck or virtues? Have you dug deep and looked at what facts support your story? Have you looked for facts that contradict it? Have you looked for other stories that could explain all the facts? Are you ready to change the story and begin acting accordingly?
These are questions you have to answer for yourself. You will have to be honest with yourself and follow through on your new information and your new story. It might be embarrassing, annoying or inconvenient, but the truth will find a way to come out.
From: Twitter, @PhilosophyQuotz
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/n/niccolomac124863.html
Photo by Wootang01
