Do you keep your promises?
By faisai
@faisai (1138)
Hong Kong
June 13, 2009 12:41pm CST
First, do you even make a promise at all? If somebody ask you for a favor, do you tend to reply like :"I will try my best but there are no guarantee it will be done" OR "Just count on me, you are cool with this."
Now, then you accept a task, do you keep your promise? If it is something serious, I think none of us would take it lightly but what if it is something much smaller such as your mom asking you to buy a book for her? Do you promise to buy it and in the end you totally forget it and still think it is nothing big deal?
Is it really true that there are difference of level of promises so that "smaller" promises can be taken lightly?
11 responses
@ckyera (17332)
• Philippines
14 Jun 09
hello...
me, i simply don't make promises if i know that i can't do it...
they say promises are made to be broken...? is this true? i think not.
but one thing for sure and i am proud to say that they can count on me and i am always true to my words...:-)
@faisai (1138)
• Hong Kong
14 Jun 09
Thanks for your reply.
If I know for sure that I can't handle something, I won't hesitate not making the promise. But there aren't that many things we are so certain of. If your boss want you to do something you haven't done before but you probably can handle, would you make a promise or not? Making a promise but failing in the end of course will let your boss down. Not making a promise will make your boss feel you are not trustworthy or you simply lack confidence. I struggle always on this.
@ckyera (17332)
• Philippines
14 Jun 09
i think if my boss told me to do something that i didn't before...mmmm well i will do my best to do it and not let her down. i mean if i told her, yes ma'am i will do it, then i will really put efforts in doing it so, coz if i will promise her one thing then i was not able to do, do you think she will still trust me? its always better to be honest...i mean just because we want to please our boss, we will make a promise to them that we can do this or that but we're not...i think she will not be please with that...
@faisai (1138)
• Hong Kong
14 Jun 09
Thanks for your reply.
If you stay away from making promises, how would others be comfortable to give you something serious? I mean if I am the boss and have a task that need somebody to do. Do I want to give it to someone that don't want to promise me whether he will finish it or not at all?
@bournecaindelta (2477)
• India
14 Jun 09
It depends on what work they got. If I know I can finish it off, I make sure that they don't worry about it and I finish it. I make promises only if I know I can keep them and make sure that I keep them at all costs. I have been faced with situations where I was forced to act against my promises, but I made sure that I did something with which I would manage both of them.
For me promises are very important. Although I have noticed that people take it fro granted, it makes me sad that such a powerful word is being used without any value or importance. Makes me sad.
bourne
@faisai (1138)
• Hong Kong
14 Jun 09
Thanks for your reply.
I also noticed that people are taking this word lightly not only those who make the promise and break it later but also those who are asking for favor. I mean I make a promise so I have the responsibility to have it done for them. But please do appreciate that we have done a lot to keep our promises. So, the next time they want to ask for favor, please appreciate our hard work and don't think that we make promise without any thoughts.
@maikarumike (458)
• Malaysia
14 Jun 09
I keep all my promises if i have made any because it is not meant to be broken by the maker of the promise.Usually i will not make any promises when someone asked me for help or anything because i am not sure i can fulfil it or not just yet.but for certain task which i am pretty sure i can handle i will keep a promise there and will not ever try not break it at all.Smaller promises are also a promise and hence should never meant to be broken.There is no difference in promises and not to regard them as smaller promises or bigger ones.There are no level in a promise and a promise is a promise after all.
@faisai (1138)
• Hong Kong
14 Jun 09
Thanks for your reply.
I also try to only promise on something that I am sure I can handle. But then I will think does it means others actually cannot count on me if I just don't make promises? I mean if they ask me for 10 things and I only promise them on 1 or 2 because others I am not so sure I can handle at the moment. Does it mean to them that I am not the guy they can count on for help when they need it?
@aikhong (661)
• Malaysia
14 Jun 09
In my opininon, keeping promises is very important for a person, and to win trust from others. If a person ever break his or her promise, others will not trust or have confidence in him or her in future. For me, i'll always keep my promises and get things done on time for the tasks i've promised to do, even it's small matters. I will only promise to others if i think that i can do it or i have enough conficent to deliver the tasks given. If i'm not confident, i'll let the person know in advanced that i can't guarantee on that so that he can do any preparation of things are not going the way as required.
Keep your promises, and it will win you lots of trust from others. This is what i always believe in.
@faisai (1138)
• Hong Kong
15 Jun 09
Thanks for your reply.
I try hard to keep my promises also because as you have pointed out, keeping my word can win me trusts from others and thus they would be more willing to be by my side when I need a favor from them. Also, the feeling of breaking a promise is just too bad for me.
@Bradpete (822)
• Philippines
14 Jun 09
Yes, I do keep it. Cos the word of honor is so important in our personality. Even it is small or big promises I do it. I'm on time to my appointment except for accident occur only. I never have any personal deft, when it his emergency I have deft but I paid early over the due time. People loves me cos I'm so punctual and thoughtful.
@faisai (1138)
• Hong Kong
14 Jun 09
Thanks for your reply.
I enjoy to hang out with people who keep their promises because I don't really need to have a backup plan for them. Ask them to be there by 7 and they would only be early rather than late. No need to think what if they arrive at 7.30 where the movie has already started. Still, there are just too many people out there that seems to think that there are "small" promises where to uphold them is a plus rather than necessity.
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
13 Jun 09
One of the few things that you have in life that no one can take away from you is your word. When I make a promise I try my best to keep it. I take every promise seriously and would never simply forget that I promised something. Now, if someone asks me if I can pick something up from the store and I say "Okay", that's different but, even in a case like that, if I end up forgetting, I'll go back to the store and get it.
@faisai (1138)
• Hong Kong
14 Jun 09
Thanks for your reply.
It is my honor to know somebody that keeps his promise to the very little things because I know quite a lot of people who don't. For instance, you can have asked them to meet at 1pm and they show up at least half an hour late.
I try my best to keep my word but fail sometimes. Every time I fail other, I feel guilty so I always want to keep any promises that I have made.
@narvzgarrison (233)
• Philippines
14 Jun 09
Since we are just human being who aren't perfect , we can't also make everything perfect in our life. Eventhough it makes us feel bad when we make promises to someone who trusted us and we fail their expectations sometimes ,but i think it's just normal as long as you don't do it purposely. Under certain circumstances ,we cannot make or provide everything that we promise to anyone and i did it sometimes too . I think ,as long as we don't do it again and again then maybe it's acceptable for those we promise to to forgive us.
@faisai (1138)
• Hong Kong
14 Jun 09
Thanks for your reply.
I know we aren't perfect but I don't want to think like that to make me feel that it doesn't matter if I fail others expectations when they are depending on me. I mean if something can really go wrong, I will make sure they are aware of that. If I do make a promise, then a fail is a fail and even if it is result of the unexpected, it doesn't make it a success nor that the others aren't feeling frustrated on me.
@jules67 (2788)
• Philippines
14 Jun 09
I do keep my promises eighty-five percent of the time. In those instances that I could not keep my promise, then there could be a valid reason for doing so. I may not be allowed by circumstances to fulfill my promise and that is the sad part. But then, I know that I am capable of keeping it and I try my best to keep that.
