6 Strategies to Help You Keep the Promises You Make to Yourself
Can you trust yourself? Think about how many times you’ve promised to save money, lose weight, or finally clear out that messy drawer. You’ve probably made countless promises to yourself—and broken quite a few of them. This article will show you techniques to keep promises you have made to yourself.
You might do this daily. It could be as small as saying, “I’ll get started on my work during the next commercial,” yet the commercial ends, and you push it off again. This habit has consequences. You’re training yourself to believe it’s okay not to take your own promises seriously. Over time, this erodes your self-trust. Building trust in yourself is vital. If you can’t trust yourself, who can you rely on?
Use these techniques to help you keep your promises and build self-integrity:
1. Learn from Your Past
If you promised to lose 50 pounds before but fell short, it might be wiser to set a more realistic goal. Losing 10 pounds five times is the same as losing 50 pounds at once. Choose promises that are realistic for you.
2. Write Your Promises Down
Thoughts can feel real but also vague. Writing promises down makes them concrete. Keep these written promises somewhere you’ll see them often, and review them a couple of times each day.
3. Ask Yourself if You Mean It, and Listen Closely
Deep down, you know if you’re really committed. After making a promise, pause and ask yourself if you genuinely mean it. Listen to the response. If the answer is no, create a new promise that aligns with your intentions. You might find this article helpful as it explains the importance of values, stay true to your core, and beliefs.
4. Reframe How You See Promises to Yourself
Most of us are better at keeping promises to others than to ourselves. This is likely because part of you believes it’s okay to let yourself down. Change this belief by recognising that you deserve the same respect as anyone else. When you truly believe this, your mindset about self-promises will shift.
5. Get Comfortable with Discomfort
The reason you break promises is that following through often feels harder than not doing so. If you can get better at handling discomfort, you’ll be more likely to keep your promises. When discomfort arises, commit to pushing through it. Avoiding or confronting discomfort is a habit. Build the habit that will serve you best. The skill of managing discomfort is one of the most valuable you can develop.
6. Consider How You View Someone Who Breaks Promises Regularly
If someone you knew constantly broke promises, would you consider them reliable? Probably not. This is similar to how you feel about yourself when you break promises. Imagine how you’d feel about someone else breaking promises to you. That’s the impact broken promises have on your self- respect. You might not notice it immediately, but it affects you over time. Keeping promises to yourself is as important - if not more so - than keeping promises to others. It comes down to importance and being of value, try this free values workbook and define what matters to you and stay true to your core beliefs.
Yet we often approach life as though the opposite is true. The damage this does to your self-relationship affects every part of your life. Respect yourself by honouring the promises you make to yourself. As you build self- integrity, you’ll also improve at keeping promises to others, and it will positively impact everything you do.
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