The beauty of honest assessment (accurately perceiving where you stand in relation to your goals) is that it allows for the possibility of a flexible strategy, even one that is outwardly “dishonest.” (Deception, after all, is common in war).
This is of the utmost importance in formulating plans and structures. Otherwise, the foundation of effort becomes severely compromised at a fundamental level.
So I am assuming you’re talking about honest assessment of things like marketing plans for novels, submissions for short stories, time spent on writing, etc?
Indeed. The entertainment industry is so fickle and nebulous, though, that I would say the most honest position is “I don’t know,” and “let’s run some experiments.”
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Your mention of ‘war’ invokes my recall of S. Pressfield’s The War of Art, which is all about confronting resistance. Your suggestion of ‘deception’ adds another item to the required tool belt.
Indeed! David Goggins on Joe Rogan talks about how he had to create a “false persona” in order to tackle the challenges he wanted to accomplish. By being honest with his intent and the evidence—”I need to do this task but my current personality isn’t up to this”—he was able to employ a crazy strategy: “I need to think of myself as another person with a different set of values and behaviors.”
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Honest assessment of anything or anyone, especially yourself, creates a clarity that fewer and fewer people have in this world. It’s not beautiful… it’s VALUABLE.
Indeed! I’ve given up trying to find a “definitive truth” that explains all of reality. The most honest position I seem to see is: “I don’t know. Let’s find out.” Or as the quote I’m too lazy to research goes: “Those who say they know, don’t know. Those who say they don’t know, know.” (Or something like that.) Heuristics fo’ life!
Kent Wayne 
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