It seems trivial, a possible oversight.  Do What You Say You Are Going to Do, or fail.

You gloss over it.

You may not realize you are not doing what you say.  You judge others for doing the same thing.  You hate it when others do this to you.

You said, “I’m going to send this tomorrow.”  You did not.

Someone asks you for a favor.  You do not want to tell them no, so you offer to help them out. Again and again, you never get to it.  You meant to, but you did not.

You just…said you were going to do something, and you did not.

More often than not, you do not do what you say you’re going to do.

Be Impeccable With Your Word ~ Miguel Ruiz

What you do not realize is that you have a reputation.  You think it is a minor oversight.  That not following through is “no big deal,” right?  Because you are getting essential things accomplished, you downplay the little promises.  You are overbooked and trying to do everything, so nothing gets done.

You justify your behavior by convincing yourself you have your priorities straight.

The bottom line is successful; people do what they say they are going to do on time.

Honor your commitments with integrity. -Les Brown

By NOT doing what you say you are going to do, you fail.  You lose integrity.  You lose reputation and other’s respect.  It is like putting a marble in the trust bucket.  Every white lie or failed promise takes a marble out of that bucket.  Soon the bucket is empty.

By not doing what you say, you are going to do several things happen:

• Credibility Decreases.
• Trust Decreases.
• Opportunity is Limited. Referrals don’t happen to people who don’t follow through.
• People don’t count on you.
• Lack of Respect
• Self-worth Decreases

We are human.  We make mistakes. We forget. We fail.

End this habit now.  Every time you break the promise, say “stop” out loud and go back and do what you say you are going to do.

You are what you do, not what you say you will do. -CG Jung

Strive to be someone of your word.

If you fail at promises consistently, no one believes you.

Linda Rawson, is the Founder of DynaGrace Enterprises, and the author of The Minority and Women-Owned Small Business Guide to Government Contracts: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started.  For consulting and coaching on Government Contracting visit the website GovCon-Biz.