Making Deadlines

Making deadlines and keeping your word are two things that go hand in hand. I read a story about Lou Tice at the Pacific Institute. He had a package that needed to go to Australia by a specific date, and he forgot to mail it. He got a $4000 plane ticket to take the package to Australia so he could keep his word.

What would you have done?

Have you made some commitments lately that you didn’t keep? And who is at fault? You or somebody else? If you said somebody else, you might want to be introspective for a while.

When you keep your word, people trust you and they know they can rely and count on you. I have done business with many people of the course of my years, and I appreciate and continue to do business with people that tell me such and such will be done on Monday, and it is done on Monday.

Some people get so excited that they will over-promise, and say that something will be done on a certain date, and then it seems to never get done.

So we have the two extremes, and of course it is difficult if not impossible to do business with the second.

Most of us fall somewhere in between, but I prefer to always keep my word on when something will be done, period. This is one of the 15 Success Characteristics: commitment.

To do what you say you are going to do also covers some of the other characteristics that are prime for success.

By keeping your word, you are showing people that you have a positive self-image of yourself. You know your word is good.

It also is self-discipline in making sure that things get done.

People trust you when you say something is going to be done and it is done, because they believe you to be competent.

It is critical to your success to honor your word.

My father use to say that a handshake would be good as a contract from some men and a contract would mean nothing from others. He would do business with the man with whom he could shake his hand and know whatever it was, was going to be delivered. It seems that in today’s world that could be a risky proposition, to trust someone at his or her word. Yet we have to run successful businesses.

What if you are a president of your company and your managers don’t make what they say happen? “Boss that will be done Monday.” “No problem, boss, we can handle that by Friday.” “We can make sure that this gets delivered by Thursday.”

Or the dangerous sign if proper oversight isn’t happening: “Boss there is no problem; we’re doing everything right, and within the regulations.”

How important is it to keep and deliver on your word?

Corporate America is in a crisis over this issue. Who can you believe if CEO’s are simultaneously taking money and ruining the lives of their employees and customers? I mean, just look at Enron, WorldCom, and the like.

How about if you are a small or medium-sized business? How much does keeping one’s word count for? How about in your family? When you open your mouth, think about whether you are about ready to make the commitment or not.

Delivering on your word also gives your mind a boost, and I contend that if you always keep your word, your mental health is better.

By keeping your word you have to budget your time. You are developing plans and executing them.

By keeping your word you affect all 15 Success Characteristics in some way.

It seems so simple: Do what you say. But it is hard when you have to rely on other people. They have to be like-minded and make sure that what one says the others will do.

What do we do with a customer and/or boss when we know there will be repercussions when we tell the truth there? We lie so that we can live another day. I am serious, and how many of us have done that to protect our hides for one more day?

This is so important that I would tell my managers to give themselves some room so that they didn’t overexpose themselves to their customers for their own failure. If you can’t do something by a particular time, tell them. They might yell and scream, but they sue when you over-promise and under-deliver.

How do you want to live?

Some people might say that this is too much. Who cares if something is a little late? Things happen and people should understand.

“Oh,” they say. “We are only a few minutes late. Why should we care? We are fashionable. We don’t have to be on time.”

Instead, why not make good on something like being on time, delivering on time, doing what you say that you are going to do.

It seems that there are some businesses where everyone over-promises and never delivers.

Do you know someone that never keeps his or her word?

You can lose all credibility with just one mistake. I have made that mistake and so have you. How did it make you feel? Even if it was someone else’s fault, it is you that has to take the heat. If you promise something, keep your word to have it done, delivered, fixed, what ever it is and do it on time.

If you do this and your word is your bond, how do you feel about yourself? How do people you work with, live with and your friends feel about you? They can take your word and know that it is going to happen.

There are two types of people that have the problem of delivering:

I believe that there is help for the first and only hope for the second.

This may be a strong statement, but the number one character trait that I am looking for is someone who tells me something and it gets done. I can take his or her word to the bank.

I know where I am with those people at all times, and this is how I like to live my life and be more successful.

Also the person that tells you the straight talk and delivers, even if they are not the most talented, will help create the strongest business because associates know they can rely on the word of the company, and customers know they can rely on the company.

At home do you have a child that promises and doesn’t deliver?

Just like at work, if you don’t give people the tools, or training, then maybe they can’t deliver when they thought they could.

But in the final analysis, it is up to the individual to make it happen.

Do you prefer someone that you can count on, or someone that is 50/50? Someone that is delivering almost all the time? To have someone lose faith in you, you only have to fail once.

What if someone said they were going to pick you up at 3 and didn’t show till 4? Excuses, excuses, excuses. That is what you hear from people that are not reliable, and they don’t care. They think they are justified in their actions to be late, to not deliver. Something, or someone else was the problem.

The biggest asset that you have is the character and values that people know you by. Do you deliver? Are you late? Do you care? Do you think other people care?

Success Philosophy has everything to do with your relationships with everybody. What you promise and what you deliver are very controllable in your world.

How people perceive you is the motivational speaker within you. You are reaching out with the promises that you make - no matter how small, or how big - to the people around you. You are the motivational speaker for that portion of the relationship that you are in.

You are telling people “I am going to do this,” and they are watching to see if you will or not.

And if you don’t deliver, then you are not much of motivational speaker to them. You are just the same old people that they come into contact with every day.

Don’t say something unless you mean it. If you mean it, make sure that you have thought about it, researched it, and allowed for the time and additional money that might be needed.

In short, think about what you are about to do, and train for it.

How do you train to be reliable? By using the Four Dynamics in your everyday life.

Choose to make the right change in your life by developing character and values; with the right attitude and knowledge of what you are promising, whether it is a small thing like playing ball with your child, or a big thing.

In the Four Dynamics we talk about taking risk. You should take as much risk as you are comfortable with, but you should never take risk with your relationships in what you promise. If you don’t think that something is possible in the time frame that is being talked about, say something and help develop a plan that will be successful.

You are in charge of yourself. No one else is truly in charge of you. No one else can make you think or feel about yourself other than what you allow. But if you are untrue to yourself, how do you feel?

You make yourself feel worst when you don’t deliver. Be good to yourself and do the right thing for yourself and everything in your self-image and mental model for success.

In the end it is all about you, and how you feel about yourself. Are you going to feel good about yourself because you can keep your word, no matter how small or large the promise may be?

Try it for a day. Remind yourself, “I am delivering.” Try it for a week, for a month, for a year, for a lifetime. How do you see yourself now? What kind of self-image and mental model leap are you taking in your mind right now, so that your word is good, and people can rely on you and have no doubts that you will deliver.