Sometimes people coat the truth to make themselves, their work, or their companies look better than they are. It’s easy to do, and tempting.

The problem is that it won’t create positive results.

The world is hungry most of all for truth. People do business with people they know, like and trust.

If you try to make yourself look better than you are, and you aren’t able to rise to your words, you break trust. You lose.

This doesn’t mean you have to give up on your aspirations or lower your goals. It does mean that when you make agreements, honestly assess your ability to perform, and always under promise and over-deliver. When you talk or write, let your words be true.

A scripture verse says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” If pride nudges you to puff up or sugarcoat the truth, bite its head off.

The payoff for being a consistent truth-teller is trust. It’s priceless, and it leads to peace not only with your constituents/clients, but within your organization and inside your soul.