Permission to Be True to Your Word - Granted
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
Many of us live in a world littered with broken promises. We tell an acquaintance at a networking event that we should get together soon having no plan to actually make that meeting happen. We promise to bring in a book that we’ve been discussing with a colleague knowing that we don’t actually lend out our books. We vow to get our kids their favorite fast food in order to make them behave one moment and then hope they are distracted and don’t remember the pledge in the future. Buddy the Elf would probably yell at us, “You sit on a throne of lies!”
I recently read the book Who Will Cry When You Die? Life Lessons from the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma. One of the lessons Robin Sharma encourages is to develop an honesty philosophy. He warns us that not being honest/not honoring our word causes us to lose credibility, it breaks trust, and it can ruin relationships. A solution that he suggests is a truth fast. For the next 7 days, set your intention to speak only the truth to others and yourself, monitor your words to others and yourself, and endeavor to be entirely honest and keep your word.
I don’t think most of us try to lie as much as we do. We lie because we don’t want to be rude or hurt feelings or cause a scene. When we say we’re going to do something for someone, there is probably a true intention to help most times, but most people have no way of capturing that promise in some sort of system that will help them remember to actually close the loop. [By the way, I teach a system that can help you capture all of your promises and make sure you follow through on them if you don’t have a system of your own.]
When I became a mother, I made a conscious vow to be a person of my word, especially with my child but with everyone else as well. I want my child to trust the words I speak and to believe me when I promise him something. I want to build a foundation of trust through his younger years so that when he’s older and bigger problems come up in his life, he can look back at our history and know that mom is a person who keeps her word. Whenever I tell him or anyone else in my life that I’ll do something, I make a task for that promise so that I’m sure to carry it out. If he has a question, even if it’s an uncomfortable subject, I answer it for him. And if I don’t know an answer, I truthfully tell him I don’t know, and we research it together.
The people I am closest to in life are also the people who are true to their word with me. Integrity and reliability are important characteristics in my relationships, and I endeavor to possess the traits that I love in others. If you have a hard time following through on your word because you lack a system for follow up, please feel free to reach out. We’ve taught thousands of clients a system that can help, and you could be next!
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Sincerely Yours,
Focus to Evolve Team