When the topic of honesty comes up, the general tendency is to think about our relationship with others. We understand the need to be honest with people. 一般来说，提到诚实，我们就会想到人与人之间的关系。我们都知道，诚实很重要。 If you cannot trust your neighbor to say the truth, and your neighbor can't trust you to say the truth, what sort of social life will that produce? 如果你不相信你的邻居会说真话，你的邻居也不相信你会说真话，你的邻里关系会是怎么样的？ If parents don't trust children, and children don't trust parents, what sort of family life will result? 如果父母不信任孩子，孩子不信任父母，这家人的家庭生活会是什么样的？ It is understandable then why we have to be honest with each other. Honesty with yourself beyond honesty with others. 所以说，我们要对彼此坦诚。而你对自己也要坦诚，这比对他人坦诚更重要。 However, have you ever considered that your first responsibility is to be honest with yourself? If you cannot be honest with yourself, how can you be honest with others? 然而，你有没有考虑过，你最重要的责任，是要对自己诚实？如果无法对自己坦诚，你又如何做到对他人坦诚？ If you can't confront the reality of your own life, how will you confront the realities of the lives of others? If you cannot face the truth about yourself, how can you tell the truth to others? 如果你无法面对你生活中的种种真相，你又如何做到面对他人的生活真相？如果你自己无法面对真相，你又如何对他人说出实话？ The best you can be will be a hypocrite who can remove the speck of dust in the eyes of others without regards for the log of wood in his own eyes. Honesty with yourself is a way of life you have to master, if you want to become the person you want to be. There are four areas where you need to be honest with yourself, if you are to make progress in life. 如果你做不到，那么，你最多也只能变成一个伪君子，容不得别人半点虚伪，却对自己的虚伪视而不见。如果你想变成自己梦想成为的人，那么你就要对自己诚实，这是一种生活方式，你必须掌握它。如果你想进步，那么你要在以下四个方面对自己坦诚。 Be honest about your strengths. The first step to improvement and progress in life is critical self-assessment. If you're not honest about what you can do and can't do, you will never improve. Be honest enough to admit what your strengths are. 坦诚面对自己的优点。要想在人生中有所进取，第一步就是要客观地评价自己。自己做得到什么，做不到什么，要如实面对，否则你就永远不会进步。你要坦然承认自己的优点到底有多少。 There are two errors you need to avoid. First is to understate your strengths to reduce your responsibility. Second is to overstate your strengths to make yourself look good. It is by taking up responsibilities that are in tandem with our strengths that we grow and become better. 你需要避免两个错误，第一就是低估自己的优点，以此减少自己肩负的责任；第二就是高估自己的优点，以此让自己显得很优秀。我们有什么优点，就承担与之对应的责任，这样我们才能成长，才能变得更好。 Understating your strengths may make your life easier, but it will never help you become better. Progress in life comes when we take responsibilities as much as our strengths and we go through constant practice. 低估自己的优点，也许会让你的人生变得更安逸，但是它永远不会让你进步。在人生中，只有承担与能力相应的责任，并且不断实践，我们才能有进步。 However, it is important not to overstate your strengths. When you overstate your strengths, you lose the opportunity to actually improve and increase your strengths. The fake can never compare with the real. A strength you disguise to look good and learn it will never serve you in the long term, compared to a strength you actually developed. 但是，你也不要高估自己的优点，这同样很重要。如果你高估自己的优点，那么你就失去了提升自我的机会，无法打磨你的优点。虚伪永远比不上真实。如果你只是假装有某个优点，浅尝辄止地学到了这个优点，从长远看，这对你没有好处。你真正拥有的优点，比这强多了。 Do you want to grow and become the best version of yourself? Be honest about your strengths. Don't overstate it, and don't understate it. 你想不想成长，想不想成为最好的自己？坦诚地面对自己的优点吧，不要高估它，也不要低估它。 Be honest about your weaknesses. This is where you need to be brutally honest with yourself. We all have weaknesses. There's a great strength in admitting our weaknesses. It provides opportunities to grow. 真实面对自己的缺点。要做到这样，你需要面对最真实的自己，这可能会很残酷。我们都有缺点。如果我们能承认自己的缺点，我们就能获得巨大的力量，它会让我们有机会成长。 However, just like your strengths, don't underestimate your weaknesses, and don't overestimate them. When you're overestimate your weaknesses, you'll become too harsh with yourself and miss many opportunities, thinking you cannot do it when you can. There's nothing more sad and backward than thinking you cannot, when you can. 然而，就像前面说到的要坦诚面对自己的优点那样，不要低估你的缺点，也不要高估它们。如果你高估了自己的缺点，你就会对自己太苛刻，会错过很多机会，因为你以为自己做不到，而事实上你有那个能力。自己明明有能力，却认为自己做不到，这是最可惜的事情，它会阻止你进步。 On the other hand, when you underestimate your weaknesses, you deceive yourself and miss opportunities to turn your weaknesses into strengths. The other problem is that people who are not honest about their weaknesses tend to have problems in their social relationships. Be honest about your weaknesses. 另一方面，如果你低估了自己的缺点，你就会欺骗自己，错过把缺点变成优点的机会。另外一个问题就是，很多不能坦然面对自己缺点的人，他们的人际关系也会出问题。所以，要正视你的缺点。 Be honest about your goals. Your goals are valid, but not all of them are valid now or in the next five years. Be honest about what you can achieve now, what you can achieve in the next five years, and in the next 20 years. It is a waste of time and strength when you seek to achieve a five-year goal in six months, or six-month goal in five years. 要真实地面对自己的目标。你的目标是合理的，但现在，或者在接下来的五年里，它们并非全部都是合理的。你现在能做到什么，五年内能做到什么，接下来的二十年内能做到什么，这些都需要你真实地面对。如果你想在六个月内实现五年的目标，或者花五年的时间去实现六个月的目标，这都会浪费你的时间和力气。 Honesty about your capacities and priorities will help you to live an ordered life, where you can have short-term, medium-term and long-term goals. 自己有多少能力，自己认为什么最重要，真实地面对这些，这能帮助你让生活变得有秩序。这样，你就能自在地规划短期目标，中期目标，长期目标。 When you are dishonest with yourself, you become anxious and forget that life is meant to be lived in stages, and what you do in a year is not what defines your entire life. It allows you to take the long-term view, and live life step by step, like a man climbing a ladder. 如果你连对自己都不坦诚，你会变得焦虑，你会忘记，人生是分阶段的，你一年内做的事情无法决定你的人生。坦诚面对自己，这能让你把目光放长远，一步一步地走人生之路，就像爬梯子那样。 Honesty with others. When you have learned to be honest about your strengths, weaknesses, and goals, then you can be honest with others. You cannot give what you don't have. 对他人诚实。当你已经学会坦诚面对自己的优点、缺点、目标时，你就能够对他人诚实了。只有对自己坦诚，才能对他人坦诚，自己没有的东西，你也给不了别人。