We are all experts at self-denial

Perhaps for sanity reasons or for psychological survival, we all seem to be experts at self-delusion and self-denial.

"The truth shall set you free" sounds really nice, but we would much rather avoid the truth at all cost. Especially the truth about ourselves.

Winston Churchill once wrote: "All men stumble upon the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and walk away as if nothing happened."

Yet the truth about ourselves seems to be the foundation for any kind of success in life.

"The truth shall set you free" is a pleasant statement, but the second part (which nobody tells you about) is: "but first, it will set you on fire."

The second part sounds like hell, if you ask me!

Yet, it seems to me that we can only get to heaven if we first accept to go through hell.

In other words, heaven is not "up there" and hell "down there."

Rather, heaven is located on the other side of hell. Only the brave and the valiant and the worthy will accept hardship and pain and a bit of suffering to get to heaven.

Most of us, of course, would much rather choose the comfortable sofa, a nice TV show and the comforting feeling of having the remote control firmly in our hand.

This lethargic state can go on indefinitely, unless someone in our surroundings has the courage to say: "You are such a loser!" or "Your life is going nowhere, can't you realize that?"

However, there is an easy way to find out whether you are engaging in self-denial about your career or your life.

Ask yourself, in terms of how you manage your career or your life: "Am I an inspiring example or am I a horrible warning?"