
The mirror wasn’t lying.
It just wasn’t telling the whole truth either.
You know the type. Hotel bathroom, fluorescent lighting that could interrogate a war criminal, steam clinging to the corners. My reflection stared back, one eye determined, the other... negotiating. Somewhere between the hum of the fan and that faint lemon-cleaner smell, I realised: I didn’t actually trust what I was seeing.
Was it me?
Or the lighting?
Or just a reflection that had learned to flatter?
The world’s like that lately, slippery. One minute you’re looking at facts, the next, you’re wondering if the facts were generated by a bored intern named GPT.
We double-check headlines.
We reverse-image search photos.
We side-eye WhatsApp forwards from our uncles.
Accenture’s Life Trends 2025 calls this “The Age of Trust.” Over 60% of people now say trust decides where they spend their time and money. And yet, half of us don’t believe what we read online.
We live surrounded by mirrors that distort perfect selfies, curated reports, performance reviews with polite adjectives. Everything polished. Nothing certain.
So we start squinting, adjusting, second-guessing.
And eventually… auditing.
Not officially, of course. Just in that quiet, human way with a gut feeling that says, “something’s off.”
That’s the thing, isn’t it?
Audit isn’t an office function. It’s a life instinct.
We do it every time we check a receipt twice, or re-read a message before sending.
We audit because we care about truth. Not the Instagram version, the actual version.
And somewhere between my fogged-up mirror and the Accenture data, it hit me: this is what we really do for a living.
We don’t count things.
We restore clarity.
Because when clarity disappears, everything else follows.
There’s no heroic gesture for rebuilding trust.
Just quiet consistency. Small acts of transparency.
That’s how you rebuild the mirror.
Piece by piece. Frame by frame.
Back in that hotel bathroom, the mirror hadn’t changed.
But I had.
The trick isn’t to demand perfect lighting, it’s to learn to trust your own reflection again.
That’s the real audit.
The one that starts before the spreadsheet ever opens.
Until next week,
Christiaan Coetzee
P.S. Ever caught a reflection that told you more than you were ready to hear?
Hit reply, I’d love to read about it (no lighting judgment here).
Or, if you’re in the mood to see how we turn audit clarity into a daily habit, take the quick demo here.
.png)


























.png)
.png)
.png)


.png)
.png)
.png)












.png)




Enhance your Excel with this powerful add-on, designed to make your audit work faster and more efficient.
Inspiration not perspiration with tips and insights to audit smarter, straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe at any time. We respect your information and won’t share your data with any 3rd parties. Learn more about our privacy policy.