By keeping your word, not only that you keep justice to the ones that you speak, but also, you keep justice to yourself.
We shouldn’t break our word, our promise, because the more we break it, the less power will be behind it. That’s why, before making a promise, we must understand what we promise.
"In a world where vows are worthless, making a pledge means nothing. Where promises are made to be broken, it would be nice to see words come back into power. " - Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby
The situation nowadays is pretty sad, but the good thing is that people with a backbone, people with integrity, will show true appreciation to you if you’re a man of your word, and of course, they will expect you to keep true to your words.
We need to give power to words again, but not the power that people nowadays talk about, but true power, because everyone can say "I love you" and not mean it at all.
I guess we all know people whose words not only that they don’t mean nothing, but they actually mean less than nothing.
Before our words can mean something to others, the words that we say must mean something to us.
“I feel keeping a promise to yourself is a direct reflection of the love you have for yourself. I used to make promises to myself and find them easy to break. Today, I love myself enough to not only make a promise to myself, but I love myself enough to keep that promise” - Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free
And of course, you don’t have to make a promise for everything, because as we know, actions speak louder than words, but when it comes to giving your word, you must mean it 100%. Mean what you say and say what you mean.
Even if it’s harsh, as long as it’s the truth, and if the other person is a person of quality, then the truth will be much appreciated.
"If you can’t keep a promise, don’t make it." - Frank Sonnenberg, The Path to a Meaningful Life
There will come situations when you will have to let someone down, to refuse them, but you have to do it in a truthful manner and with elegance. Making fake promises will not only damage the other person but will damage you as well.
Aim to inject your words with truth and meaning, because hiding things will turn into deception, and no one with an IQ higher than one digit will hold you in good regard.
And also, if you’re trying to be deceptive, you’re making your life harder because it’s going to be exhausting to keep up with all the lies, and sooner or later, every liar gets caught.
“Promises are only as strong as the person who gives them ...” - Stephen Richards
That being sad, your words represent you. They represent you even more than your body, more than your spouse and kids.
Another thing that we must understand is that we shouldn’t be extremely harsh on ourselves. We don’t need to go to the highest extreme.
Of course, we need to expect ourselves to keep true to what we say, but maybe this won’t be possible at some point. In that case, we must be certain that we gave our all to achieve what we stated.
Conclusion
Words are very powerful. Not only when you make promises, but when you say something, even to yourself.
We must condition our brains to put the correct value on our words, and once we promise something, we must do everything in our power to accomplish it.
Doing otherwise not only makes others see you as less trustworthy, but you will even hurt yourself. If you get to a point where your words mean nothing, then you will truly have nothing.
Cheers!
