Promises to Others

Last week, the Message was all about making your word to others good as gold. When you make promises to others, your credibility is on the line and you earn their confidence that you are reliable. This is an important aspect of your professional stature with clients and colleagues alike.

Promises To Yourself

But what about the promises you make to yourself? Do you keep them with the same diligence as with others? It matters because, just like making your word good to others earns their confidence, keeping promises to yourself earns confidence in yourself.

They come in various forms. They could be things on your to-do list, or a routine for exercise or a discipline about what you eat or what you want to accomplish today or this week. Why do you struggle with keeping those promises?

Benefits Of Keeping Promises To Yourself

First, when you keep your promises to yourself, it affects your self-esteem. Every promise you make to yourself that you don’t keep eats away at how you view and like yourself.

Second, when you keep your promises to yourself, you experience a sense of personal power. You don’t shy away from being responsible because you know you will make something happen.

Third, it impacts your productivity. When you keep promises to yourself, you get stuff done. And in a world of distractions and competition for your attention, that’s significant.

Your improved self-esteem, personal power and productivity together make you confident in yourself because you aren’t shaken by changes and you feel capable to adjust to the curveballs thrown your way.

If these are the positive consequences of keeping promises to yourself, be careful about what you agree to. Your entire to-do list isn’t a promise. It’s a catalog of things that you don’t want to forget. From that list, select ONE that you will start or knock off the list by the end of today. It’s not really difficult—it’s a matter of earning confidence in yourself.