Promises Made and Promises Kept

The power in a promise isn’t found in the making of that promise. The power of a promise is in keeping it.

Lots of people will make commitments with every intention of keeping them. But for all kinds of reasons, they will fail to keep them. They’ll fail to keep promises they make to other people, and worse, they’ll fail to keep the promises they make to themselves.

Other people will make promises with no intention of keeping them, or they’ll make promises that they know that they cannot keep. Some have no intention of keeping the promises they make. They are making the promises because they want what they gain by making those promises.

Some people are very stingy with their promises. They make very few promises. They aren’t quick to commit to doing anything. They only make promises that they intend to keep, and they keep their promises. These people recognize that the value in the promise is in its being kept, not made.

You want to be in this last group, slow to make promises, fast to keep them.