The concept of kept promises seems to be ambiguous of late. I was just having this conversation with a colleague the other day. Many make promises at the drop of a hat without any reflection beforehand. Can they keep the commitment? Do they have the bandwith to add something else to their plate before saying "I'll do this" or "I'll be there" before they dive in and make that promise?
Others love to use the expressions " I hope to be able to". Hope doesn't make things happen. Doing makes things happen. Or "I'll try to...." As Yoda is famous for saying "Try? Try not. Do!" If you don't have the bandwith to do it properly and in the timeframe you promised, then don't.
This morning in Seth Godin's blog, "Specific Promises, Kept" he hit the nail right on the head when he stated :"The power of the specific, measurable and useful promise made and kept is difficult to overstate."
The thing is, it's up to us as the recipient of the promise to hold the other accountable. That's not to say we have control over whether or not other people honor their commitments. We have the right to decide whether or not to engage with and believe in that individual in the future. After all, we are our word. If we promise lightly with no intention of honoring that promise why would people trust us in the future? And why would they expect we will trust them in return if their words are empty?
The biggest gift you can give clients, customers, colleagues, friends and family alike is to be honest about what we can give and do.... and what we can't.
Showing posts with label commitment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label commitment. Show all posts
Friday, March 16, 2012
Friday, May 13, 2011
Finding Greatness
Today my friend Deb sent me a link to a fabulous blog titled Place Yourself in the Presence of Greatness by Leo Babauta. In his piece he says, "You learn to see greatness when you happen upon it, and that is a true gift. It’s not just in famous people, but in commoners like us. If you learn to look. If you recognize it for greatness, and then use it to move you.
"And soon, you use the greatness all around you to reach for greatness yourself.
"And eventually, you realize that you’re always in the presence of greatness … because the greatness is within you.
"And learning that? That’s the greatest gift ever."
What that brought to mind for me is we all have the capability of being great, to be leaders (regardless of title or level). By being authentic to ourselves and others, living our word and paying attention to our impact on others as well as their impact on us, we can be even greater.
I love reading what brings to light something I didn't know before as well as affirming what I always believed. For me a great one is someone who lives their life in direct proportion to the commitments they make and keep. It's not about money, title, position or power. It's about authenticity and truth, caring and consideration. As long as I'm open to learning I'll recognize that everyone in the world knows something more about life and living it than I do and can learn from them.
Yes. Each of us does have greatness within. What I charge you with is to remove all the ways of being that might be causing your greatness to diminish. Some of these are having power over people rather than with them, over-committing and underdelivering, making promises and breaking them and thinking saying sorry again and again will make it all better and most of all, letting pride get in the way of doing the right thing.
What else might be standing in your way of greatness? What do you have to let go of?
"And soon, you use the greatness all around you to reach for greatness yourself.
"And eventually, you realize that you’re always in the presence of greatness … because the greatness is within you.
"And learning that? That’s the greatest gift ever."
What that brought to mind for me is we all have the capability of being great, to be leaders (regardless of title or level). By being authentic to ourselves and others, living our word and paying attention to our impact on others as well as their impact on us, we can be even greater.
I love reading what brings to light something I didn't know before as well as affirming what I always believed. For me a great one is someone who lives their life in direct proportion to the commitments they make and keep. It's not about money, title, position or power. It's about authenticity and truth, caring and consideration. As long as I'm open to learning I'll recognize that everyone in the world knows something more about life and living it than I do and can learn from them.
Yes. Each of us does have greatness within. What I charge you with is to remove all the ways of being that might be causing your greatness to diminish. Some of these are having power over people rather than with them, over-committing and underdelivering, making promises and breaking them and thinking saying sorry again and again will make it all better and most of all, letting pride get in the way of doing the right thing.
What else might be standing in your way of greatness? What do you have to let go of?
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Commitment - Part 2
"The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now." - Goethe
Years ago I adopted the motto "I live my life in direct proportion to the commitments I make and keep". That applies to my life...personal and professional. We seem to live in a throw-away world where we throw away people by disrespecting or ignoring them, throw away jobs as we run from what might be difficult, rather than learning from difficulty, run towards something we might think is easier, when it usually isn't and throw away things when they lose their novelty.
When we honour our commitments, we honour ourselves and those we've committed to. If for some reason the status quo has changed, then we still honour ourselves when, if need be, the commitments are redefined and not ignored or not thrown away.
For me, that's called authenticity.
But I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, am I?
Years ago I adopted the motto "I live my life in direct proportion to the commitments I make and keep". That applies to my life...personal and professional. We seem to live in a throw-away world where we throw away people by disrespecting or ignoring them, throw away jobs as we run from what might be difficult, rather than learning from difficulty, run towards something we might think is easier, when it usually isn't and throw away things when they lose their novelty.
When we honour our commitments, we honour ourselves and those we've committed to. If for some reason the status quo has changed, then we still honour ourselves when, if need be, the commitments are redefined and not ignored or not thrown away.
For me, that's called authenticity.
But I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, am I?
Sunday, November 09, 2003
My Philosophy
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Harold Whitman
I am asked time and time again what it is, exactly, that a Coach does. The definition varies with each Coach, as the work we do changes based on the area of coaching we work in. As well, with each client, the dynamics and focus of the coaching changes. What does remain constant however, is our mission or philosophy behind the work. And after many attempts, I finally put into words what my beliefs and philosophies are.
“How we dream is what gives our lives value. How we choose to live is what determines whether our dreams have value.”
“I believe we each carry a dream of a life we were born to realise which shows up through desire. And I believe that we all have the ability to realise our personal and professional dreams if we commit ourselves to not settling for anything less than what we really want. It is when we move toward our passions that we experience our own greatness, and it is then an incredible contribution to ourselves and to the world is made, by being who we truly are. “ (Donna Karlin)
Going back to two posts ago, about letting life pass you by and losing those important to you along the way, I maintain people get angry at the state of their lives not because of all the deadlines, lack of rest, demands made upon them, rather because they aren’t making their dreams a reality. And in keeping that busy they, in a way, escape from life, because it’s not one of their choosing.
When something is really important to you, or there’s a threat (and you actually notice it) of losing something or someone so precious you can’t imagine life without it or them, then it’s amazing how you find a solution. Why wait until the point of no return?
Best...
Donna Karlin
I am asked time and time again what it is, exactly, that a Coach does. The definition varies with each Coach, as the work we do changes based on the area of coaching we work in. As well, with each client, the dynamics and focus of the coaching changes. What does remain constant however, is our mission or philosophy behind the work. And after many attempts, I finally put into words what my beliefs and philosophies are.
“How we dream is what gives our lives value. How we choose to live is what determines whether our dreams have value.”
“I believe we each carry a dream of a life we were born to realise which shows up through desire. And I believe that we all have the ability to realise our personal and professional dreams if we commit ourselves to not settling for anything less than what we really want. It is when we move toward our passions that we experience our own greatness, and it is then an incredible contribution to ourselves and to the world is made, by being who we truly are. “ (Donna Karlin)
Going back to two posts ago, about letting life pass you by and losing those important to you along the way, I maintain people get angry at the state of their lives not because of all the deadlines, lack of rest, demands made upon them, rather because they aren’t making their dreams a reality. And in keeping that busy they, in a way, escape from life, because it’s not one of their choosing.
When something is really important to you, or there’s a threat (and you actually notice it) of losing something or someone so precious you can’t imagine life without it or them, then it’s amazing how you find a solution. Why wait until the point of no return?
Best...
Donna Karlin
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