Radical honesty.

I was reading The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment by AJ Jacobs. He writes a chapter about "radical honesty" a self-improvement technique invented by Dr. Brad Blanton.

The goal is to be completely, 100% honest all the time, in every circumstance. Not only that, but you're also not supposed to filter any thoughts that come to your mind. If you glance at a woman and find her attractive you're supposed to tell her, right then and there.

Hmm. Sounds disastrous. Jacobs attempted to follow radical honesty most of the time. He reported being stressed out. A few times he just couldn't do it.

Blanton says that lying to people is cruel. If grandma makes you cookies and they taste horrible, you should be kind and tell her they taste bad. If she gets offended, that's her issue. Umm okay.

How long would it take you to lose all your friends practicing radical honesty? How would you ever date the opposite sex or remain in a relationship? How would you ever get hired and/or keep a job?

I do grant that being radically honest at work would be simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying. You'd feel good for telling the truth. You'd feel great! But these "good feelings" would be overwhelmed by the sense of dread at being fired.