St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church

Broken promises are one of the biggest mistakes that one can make.

Do You Make This Mistake as a Professional? – lifehack.org

The above article’s context is in a working environment but the lessons apply everywhere.

Broken promises:

1. diminish the value of our word
2. decrease our ability to work for and with others
3. lessen our own self esteem

We can redeem ourselves and start building a reputation for reliability and credibility by:

1. Remembering the things we promise to do – we often say too many things without remembering to follow up. Some of the promises I have heard or given lightly are: “Let’s do lunch”, “I’ll get back to you on that”, “I’ll call you”
2. Clarify what is expected of us
3. Use ‘As Promised’ in our communications – when following up on a promise, use ‘As Promised’ to state that we are delivering on our commitment.
4. renegotiating if we might miss a deadline

This is food for thought as we approach Christmas and a new year after that.