How To Read Through BS & Protect Yourself From Liars
At one point in our lives, we’ve all been the victim of a Picasso-type BS artist. Whether it’s been a sales person, friend, date, politician, etc – our intellect accepted a lie as truth. It’s nothing to be ashamed of however, here are quick adjustments you can make to reduce your chances of getting BS’d by 80% of more.
- Determine your own inner Elasticity of Truth. If the image you present of yourself to the world is a complete contradiction of who you really are inside, your chances of getting lied to or falling for BS will be substantially high. On the scientific level, it’s simply likeminded energy gravitating towards other likeminded energy. The more honest you are with yourself the easier you’ll be able to notice when people are being untruthful with you.
- People tend to emotionally overreact when you fail to respond to their manipulations. Gauge how people react to your reactions to what they are saying. When someone is caught in a lie, they usually act like trapped rat and lash at you – it’s a battle of wills and the person with the lower self esteem usually loses or accepts the lie. When you become more aware of how read BS, you can actually take total control of the situation and turn the tables on the teller of tall tales.
- Go with your gut feeling. If you sense something isn’t truthful, chances are you’re probably right. We’ve actually walked away from a few meetings with high profile CEO’s because our guts were telling us they were completely full of BS – turns out our guts were right!
- Language of Distraction: People who are full of BS rarely answer a question directly. They NEED to throw as many other conversational distractions at you as possible in order for your mind to not be fully focused on what they are saying. A good anti-BS exercise is to watch political debates & the Oscars – after a while you’ll start to spray aerosol around your TV & open the windows when one is on.
- Observe Body Language: In our experience, we find that people who are perpetual BS artists can’t sit still and often fidget when lying to your face. It’s like their body is screaming at you “don’t listen to him/her!” and it’s a clear indication of a disconnected Elasticity of Truth.
- Leash your ego. A common tactic of a perpetual BS artist is to load the victim with compliments to inflate their ego. People with lower self esteem often immediately fall for this. Everyone wants to feel good and when you feel bad and someone makes you feel good, the tendency is to want more of it. The victim is more inclined to go along with the lie because their self esteem is getting boosted – that’s why some people who are knowingly lied to just go along with it. The best defense against this is simply accepting the fact you’re a cool person (faults, skeletons, everything).
- Be aware of the sociopath (http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html) – they are the most skilled BS artists that ever existed. Some times they can even bypass your gut feeling because they are 100% convinced that their lies are truthful. However, the link above will teach you to immediately identify who a sociopath is.
- We strongly recommend reading, buying, memorizing the book “Never Be Lied To Again” by Dr. David Lieberman – http://www.amazon.com/Never-Lied-Again-Conversation-Situation/dp/0312186347 – it is amazing.
- Truth rarely comes in a Tiffany’s box with a side of fresh flowers. Those who present the “truth” this way are most likely to be full of BS. Truth is often uneventful and simple – you’ll understand what this means in a few hours from now.
In closing, you are 100% in control of how much BS you’re willing to accept or reject. If you choose to not be a victim of perpetual lies, here are some immediate benefits.
- Increased personal happiness
- Increased time for yourself & others
- Greater awareness of your life and the world in which you live in. BS is like a thick fog on the windshield of your five senses.
- Stronger working relationships. They say that the cream rises to the top but, you’ll never be able to be the cream if BS is shackling your ankles and dragging you down.
- More energy – preaching BS and accepting BS as truth a tremendous energy drain on a person’s physical & mental well being.
- Decreased likelihood of being deceived
At Goldman McCormick, we are 100% committed to a Non-BS work environment and a Non-BS relationship with our clients, trusted friends in the media, and our families