The value of lying to ourselves can improve our business

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We all lie to ourselves. In some ways, that’s not our fault. One of our biggest weaknesses as humans is our inability to see ourselves. But lying to yourself can sometimes be a good thing.

Take Mark Cuban. He got the idea to start his own software business when he was fired from a sales job. But what made him follow through on that idea? He lied to himself.

“One thing that entrepreneurs, we all do, we lie to ourselves,” Cuban said in a 2019 speech. “All the time. Those lies give you the confidence to chase a business idea.”

Telling yourself you can do it. Telling yourself you can succeed when others have failed. Telling yourself you do have what it takes to build a successful business, no matter how nervous, anxious, or scared you may feel.

If you don’t lie to yourself? According to Cuban, you’re more likely to remain a wantrepreneur: someone with thoughts, ideas, and even plans — but who still can’t find the nerve to do more than hope and dream.

“You talk about doing it, but don’t take that step,” Cuban said. “And then you lie to yourself a little bit and you say, ‘I can do this.’ You’re scared s—less, but you know you can do this. You take one small step.”

Even so, as Cuban says, you have to know when to lie to yourself and when to be brutally honest with yourself.

According to Cuban:

“We all go through the same process. We tell ourselves, “[We’re] the best. Everybody loves us. No one’s going to not like my product.” Of course that’s not true.

When you’re an entrepreneur, you have to figure out how to kick your own ass before someone else does it for you. You have to look at your own company and be brutally honest with yourself and say, “What do we do well?” That’s great, but also be brutally honest and say, “What do we not do well? Where are our challenges? How can we improve them?”

Granted, lying to yourself about your chances of success while being brutally honest about the weaknesses and challenges that will keep you from succeeding sounds contradictory.

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