Promises! Promises! It’s important to keep your promises.
People trust you when you keep your promises. When people trust you, they know they can depend on you. You will not let them down. You will do what they ask. You will be there for them.
You must show people you can be trusted, if you want them to trust you.
Ovid tells us anyone can be rich in promises. Your promises are precious coin. Make sure you don’t devalue your own promises. Be frugal with them.
Some people promise too easily. They hyper-inflate the currency of their promises like they are the Weimar Republic, or the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, or somebody like that. Their promises become worthless paper.
Never promise more than once a day (using that word). Doing something and not making a promise is better than making a promise and not doing something.
Base your promise on four personal traits— or pillars of virtue:
Justice - that will not suffer you to deceive.
Responsibility - that will not suffer you to forget.
Truth - that will not suffer you to change.
Power - that will not suffer you to fail.
Be where you say you will be. Do what you say will do. Give what you say you will give. You must intend and be able to keep your promises. It’s that simple… and that hard.
Avoid promising according to your hopes.
Woodrow Wilson promised to keep the United States out of the war. Herbert Hoover promised a chicken in every pot. George Bush the Elder promised no new taxes and invited a national television audience to read his lips… Don’t be like these men.
Keep your promises.
You can do it.
This article written by Campbell Venn. Comments and suggestions welcome at CampbellVenn@optonline.net
