John, Excellent and challenging post.  I confess to the very pattern of behavior you mention.  It's tempting to rationalize a less-than-totally honest interaction with someone because I think a totally-honest interaction will be too much work, or take too much time.

In relation to myself, I'm very aware of a thought I first heard from Andy Andrews in his book, the Noticer. We always judge others by their results, but we judge ourselves by our intentions.  That simple disparity makes it very easy to prove the idea that I'm infitely capable of rationalizing my own behavior.  It's something I wrestle with all the time.  Your idea about setting a floor is a great one.

One final thought too. I often have to remember that when I'm not being honest in my relationships with others, many times that's from an unwillingness to understand their perspective and appreciate the differences between us.  Often my temptation to be less than honest with them stems from my own tendency to be less than honest with myself.

Great post! Thanks!  Mike...