Your word, your bond

When with excitement I picked Michelle Obama’s current top selling book ‘Becoming,’ I expected real serious content from a woman who, at the time of this post, is the world’s most admired woman. Well, I wasn’t disappointed. And whereas I am still reading this book that has defied gravity (because I can’t put it down), one thing came out so simply yet strongly. KEEP YOUR WORD. As we daily make commitments to ourselves and others, we must be conscious to follow them through; it is part of integrity, earns you respect, and shows you respect the other person too.

It is always better to under-commit and over-deliver than over-promise and fall short…

In the current world of cutthroat competition in all spheres, the greatest currency is when others can trust you to keep your word. Whether in business or in relationships, nothing beats trust. People want to be with people they can trust, people want to do business with people they can trust even before they think about quality they can trust (but then you can’t do a low quality job and hide behind trustworthiness). People are willing to pay more and do more for people who they can trust. A VERBAL PROMISE IS A MORAL OBLICATION. People who are trust worth command some level of respect, they have a bounce in their step, authority in their utterances…

Your ability to or not to keep your word soon affects your world

And so, the million dollar question; CAN YOU BE TRUSTED to do what you said you will do, to give what you said you will give, to call back when you say you will, to pay up when you said you will, to respect others and yourself by respecting your word? Before you make a promise, ask yourself if you can keep it. As the Gaelic goes, THERE IS NO GREATER FRAUD THAN PROMISE NOT KEPT. The reason why your word is your bond is because you are under bondage until yo have kept your word, only after then are are you free!

“Broken vows are like broken mirrors. They leave those who held to them bleeding and staring at fractured images of themselves.”

-Richard Paul Evans