Underpromise and Overdeliver

... so I’ve been on the “underpromise AND UNDERdeliver” side of the equation.

Started this week a little better. Maybe there is hope.

I hate making promises, so to some extent this comes naturally. Unless I’m 97% certain that I can and will do something, I don’t commit to it.

It causes problems too. If someone needs something done, I will try at it, but I rarely volunteer to do it. Instead I just do it and meanwhile the poor person is wondering who they will find to complete the task. This does make them happy once they see that I’ve done it, and done it well. Still, I would prevent a lot of nail-biting on the person’s part by just committing to the task in the first place. So ‘underpromising and overdelivering’ is a mixed bag.

Hmmm…this is going to be difficult for me. I find that I’m so eager to say yes to helping people that I put myself in situations where I let people down, and I hate doing that. I need to be more mindful of this goal throughout the day as I go about my daily business. I need to find some way to remind myself; a visual reminder…something less permanent than a tattoo.

Oh, do I feel like I’ve failed here. Recently I came into a bad situation in which I was asked to play a friends’ store opening party, and also a wedding…on the same day. Originally, I had agreed to the wedding, but the groom’s mother passed away a week prior to the wedding and from what I heard the wedding would be post-poned, so I signed up to help my friend with his store. A few days prior to the event, I find out the wedding was not post-poned as I had been informed…EEEP!

I ended up going to the wedding and I feel it was the right thing to do, but I feel awful.

i’m pretty bad at this.

...and do it cheerfully.

Always act confident, as long as you can back it up. Make sure that it seems that you will always fufill the amount of work required, and then make sure to always do that little something extra. Whether it’s for a class whose teachers recomendations might get you into the school of your dreams, or for an employer you call to ask for your job back after you just lost yours due to downsizing. Life has it’s funny way of making sure that good people gets what coming to them. Don’t use your mouth, because actions speak louder than words.

as of yet… rather the reverse

Maybe I could promise more and deliver too?

When you work for yourself, and everyone is the client, it’s very easy to make promises. Promises are what everyone wants to hear. However, after you’ve broken a few, you want to avoid that pain! No fun living in fear!

If that isn’t enough motivation, the joy of giving someone more than they bargained for, is the creative spark for enjoying what I do.