Stand up for what’s right, in small matters and large ones, and always do what you promise – Reuben Mark, Former Chairman & CEO Colgate- Palmolive
How many times have you encountered that your friend keeps on promising to catch up with you? You clear your schedule for that day in order to make room for the rendezvous with your friend and that friend at end time without giving any prior intimation cancelled on you. You feel irritated and annoyed on the friend. So next time if such plans happen you really think twice before committing to meet as your friend doesn’t value the commitment made by them. You tend not to trust that person again. In professional life as well when your client doesn’t deliver what they committed to deliver, it affects the relationship in the long run.
Commitment is what transforms promise into reality said the great leader Abraham Lincoln. When you make or accept a commitment you build hope, and when you fulfil the commitment you build trust. But before making and keeping a commitment to others it is important that we keep a commitment to ourselves. Once we get accustomed to fulfilling the commitment to ourselves it will get reflected in our efforts to keep the commitment we made to others.
Keeping commitment to ourselves requires practice. Start by keeping small commitments like getting up at a particular time every day, eating a fruit every day or cutting down your caffeine intake during the day. Keeping these small commitments will slowly increase your self-confidence which would help you in taking bigger commitment and keeping the same.
Keeping commitments is based on the principles of integrity, performance, courage and humility. More important is Integrity which is in honouring the promise you made and your ability to do what you say you’re going to do. Few important points in keeping the commitments are; don’t make too many commitments. If you over commit yourself, you will find yourself in a state of chaos which would result in not fulfilling the commitment. One mistake which people usually make is that they promise something without actually knowing whether they would be able to deliver it. Gather everything i.e. the resources, the time taken and extra time as well and when you are sure about the end to result then only making a commitment makes sense.
Respect the commitment you have made. If you are not serious about fulfilling the commitment then why make any? Whether it promises to yourself that you will devote time in working out or promise to the client about the deliverable, it is important to respect it and follow through with it, which shows how sincere you are about getting the thing done.
Never make commitments without thinking, be realistic about the commitments you make. Having a realistic goal will make the process of keeping the promise easy and doable. In case you see that you might miss the deadline, inform the concerned party beforehand and try to renegotiate the date, don’t wait for the last minute as there are chances that their work will move forward only after you deliver things from your side. So informing in advance will give them enough time to decide on their strategy.
In the end, if you constantly keep commitments it will do good to your reputation and it has a direct impact on trust and trust is really important to for any relationship to thrive, so it is advisable to keep the promises you have made.