Honesty.

This post (http://learntoduck.net/the-curse-of-bullshit) reminded me of some thoughts that occurred to me last year.


We have this set of expectations, this mental image of how we are supposed to behave; to get up at 5 every morning, be in work before 8; work through 'till 8 or 9 in the evening, all the time cheerful, aggressive, the day punctuated by the regular, next! next! stand 'em up! knock 'em down; solving a new problem every 20 minutes, never making a mistake, always presenting solutions, innovating, driving the project forwards.

Sometimes we can manage it; circumstances come together, the stars align, and everything works out fine. When it happens, great! Work becomes pleasure, and we slip into the flow-state for months at a time.

Alas, this is not and cannot be normality for all of us, all of the time.

The problem is this; we cannot bring ourselves to admit it. We demand of ourselves, and of other people, the image of perfection, which means that we hide behind the lie; because we must maintain the image of performing perfectly all of the time, we loose the ability to admit when we are not performing, and effectively deal with it.


This is what humility is all about. It is not really a moral thing, it is deeply pragmatic. It is about giving yourself the freedom to analyse and understand your problems, and to do better.


Let us all be a bit more humble, let us admit, publicly, our flaws, and give each other the room to become better at what we do.

After all, if we demand perfection from ourselves and those around us, all we will get in return are lies.