These are my thoughts about Rule 1 from Jordan B. Peterson’s “40 Rules”. You can read them all here.

1. Tell the truth or at least don’t lie.

I’m not surprised Peterson put this one first. When I decided to put this into practice consistently, I found it much harder than I expected.

I’ve always considered myself to be honest even to a fault. If someone asks me a question, they get my truthful answer, even if it hurts. If I’ve made a mistake, I take responsibility for it, even if that’s going to be painful for me.

But, when I analyzed my speech, I found that I was omitting things or exaggerating stories or changing things up just a little bit. In essence, I was lying, even if those lies were not important or hurtful.

Especially when I decided to follow the second part of this rule (don’t lie), I started keeping my mouth shut more. Instead of saying anything untrue, I often found that it was better to say nothing than to tell the bare truth. As long as I’m not being asked a direct question, I have the option to not tell everyone everything all of the time and still not be lying.

If someone asks me something, I’ll still tell them the exact truth, with no embellishments and no omissions, as much as possible. Most of the time, however, the “don’t lie” part is the one on which I’m focusing.

One of the maxims my father has lived by for most of his life is “Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?” If I can’t answer yes to all three of those questions, then I should think carefully before opening my mouth.