How to Be a Good Liar

By admin

Ever wonder if people can tell when you are lying? If it’s obvious because it’s whenever your lips are moving, I probably can’t help you. But if you really want to know the secrets of being a good liar keep reading. This is something that a majority of the population does well, so why not you? Why should you be burdened with always telling the awful, ugly truth? Spruce up your conversation with a few good lies instead. People will think you are a lot cooler than you know you are deep down.

There are several reasons why people lie. The first is that their profession requires it. Did you ever see that episode of The Twilight Zone where the used car salesman had the haunted car that caused the owner to always tell the truth? He suddenly couldn’t make a living. The politician who was considering buying it (but found out about this particular glitch) couldn’t take it because his career would be finished as well. If you must lie in order to do your job effectively, you had better be good at it - or else find another profession.

A more popular reason is just by habit. At some point a person starts lying and then it just becomes routine. I once worked with a guy who prided himself on it. He wouldn’t tell the truth to a customer under any circumstances as that would have been beneath him. He liked to show off the elaborate lies he would tell to his coworkers. Many of them were very creative, and he used to love it a few days later when the angry customer called back - so he could lie even more. This guy was good.

Another friend of mine exaggerates habitually. When you are having a beer with him and he starts telling anecdotes from his life’s experiences, you know to automatically reduce whatever he says by about 40%. Even he realizes that this habit from his youth has caused everyone who knows him to take his stories with a grain of salt. But he can’t do anything about it. It’s too late. If he started reporting all his life’s experiences accurately now, everyone would still reduce them by 40%. So in order to tell the truth he actually must keep exaggerating.

What about white lies? Those are lies we tell to spare other people’s feelings. That is, until they find out about it. Then they are usually more upset at you over the lie then they would have been if you just told the truth originally.

Then are the really big lies that seem absolutely necessary - the ones that save your skin. If you don’t tell them you are in really big trouble. Some classic examples include President Richard Nixon and, more recently, Martha Stewart. They both had to lie facing some very embarrassing circumstances. Interestingly, they both later discovered that the trouble they got in to for the lie was significantly worse than the trouble they would have gotten into if they just fessed up in the first place. Who’da thunk?

The biggest problem with lying is the necessity of remembering your previous lies. This is a lot tougher then simply accessing your actual memories. Who knows what you said to somebody if you are in the habit of lying? Therefore it is best not to discuss any previous topic of conversation with the same person ever again, just to be safe. The exception would be if it’s one of your standard lies that you tell to everybody - then you are probably OK.

The reality is that the term good liar is an oxymoron. There is no good liar. You cannot become a good liar. You can only be good by not lying. No matter how tempting it is, you will become a much more respected person (by everyone you encounter) if you always are truthful in everything. It can be difficult at times, because this runs counter-intuitive to our human nature. But it’s true. You respect people who are truthful and want nothing to do with liars, right? Everyone else is the same way. Get into the truth habit. Soon it will become second nature to you and won’t require a conscious effort. Your life will be better as a result. That’s a promise.

Papa Riah

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