Motivation Monday // What really happens when you break promises to yourself.

Today's lesson is one that I've reflected a lot on in the past week.  It relates directly to our conversation last week on scheduling your goals.  Today we are discussing "following through with our promises" or "honoring our word."

In any given week, you will make countless commitments (promises).  You commit to arriving to work on time, to calling people back, to turning work in when expected.  And most of the time, you do a decent job of honoring those commitments.

But then, there are the promises we make to ourselves.  We say that this year will be different, this year we vowed to.......
If you calendar your goals this week into your schedule, you are in essence creating a written promise to yourself that these actions will occur.  But what happens if you're like me and don't complete what you've written down?  Usually nothing right?

There are no real consequences for not hitting my 10,000 steps that day like I wanted.  And, because no real consequences occur, I hold little value to the promises I make to myself.  I treat it as if I have a choice as to whether I want to do it or not.  But what I'm really doing is devaluing my word.  I'm weakening my word every time I break a promise to myself (and others) until I become someone who has no power.   I become the person that always talking about what I'll do differently but nothing ever manifests.  At work, when I say something will be completed by a certain time, I do it.  I do it to avoid the consequences.  Choice is not involved in this type of decision.  Because to my employer, I chose "yes" to all my obligations simply by showing up to work.  But in my own life, I'm saying "maybe" to my personal commitments.

The truth is that the consequences for not doing what I say are VERY REAL.  But they aren't immediate.  That's why we think we can get away with it.  For instance, last week, I identified, and wrote down some actions that would positively impact my business.  Some were completed, some weren't.  In the end, the business maintained a positive momentum even though I missed my obligations.  No (immediate) consequences for my inaction.  This week, I will create another weekly agenda of actions to take.  But, subconsciously, I might allow "reasons and excuses" to serve as ammunition for me to repeat last week's behavior.  Instead of creating my calendar with the intention of 100% completion of everything on my list, I write it out and think that I'd be happy if I got more than 50% of it done.

Can you imagine how "powerful" you would be if you fully committed to doing 100% of what you promise this week?  By the way, when I use the word power, I'm not talking about position or status, I'm referring to personal power.  The power to create in life.  God, who is all powerful, creates through HIS WORD.  We, who have limited power, are constantly devaluing our word.  We say, "I want to lose 15 lbs, but the minute someone brings a birthday cake to the office, we're enjoying a slice.  Our word has no power.

Words are the beginning of creation. First we think it, then we SPEAK it, then we ACT UPON IT, and finally, WE COMPLETE IT.

The topic of completion is a whole 'nother post we need to delve into next week.  But in the mean time, I invite you to practice honoring your word this week.  Make it a priority to follow through with what you committed to yourself and others.  Make your word the most important thing to you and work diligently to honor it.