Your Word is Gold

The real gold standard is word, and your ability to keep it. When you take your word seriously, others do too.? Making a promise and keeping it is the essential ingredient to building trust within your personal and professional life.

In the Old West, people bought and sold herds of cattle based on a handshake. In many places today, deals made with a handshake mean an unbreakable bond.? This interconnectedness is what makes people know they can rely on one another. Within communities that are built in this way, keeping your word is the one thing that is not negotiable.? The honor that is built within the community is the true currency that all transactions are built on, and people know the value of being sure they show up for their promises. Breaking your word means being sent out of the community, and getting back is not possible.

People in stressed environments such as prisons or war zones don’t have time for complicated excuses. You either are an honorable person, or you are not. People’s lives are on the line, and it doesn’t take long to sort out who is who. Having a good reputation among your peers is the key to survival.

In business, your reputation is everything.? You need to keep your brand promise, to make your customers sure that when they deal with you, they are getting what they expected to get. People remember you when you keep your word, and they tell others.? Doing what you say will do is the thing that draws people to come back to you after the first time around.

With your loved ones, you have every reason to follow through. Love and trust are built on promises kept.? Understanding this is key to having a happy life with your friends and your family. When you break a promise in your family, it has long-lasting effects that are damaging to the relationship and to the people you love. They need to know that you love them, which you show by keeping your promises. This bond of trust either grows or it shrinks. Trust is not a static thing. Every day is an opportunity to build on the trust you built the day before. Every day that you don’t build on that trust is an opportunity to lose it, as people wonder where you went and find other things to do instead of building the relationship.

This applies to promises you make to yourself, too. There is nothing that will build up your personal power faster than making a promise to yourself and keeping it. And if not, then you fall into the pit of excuses and your self-esteem goes with it. Your relationship with yourself is the foundation for all others. If you can’t be honest with yourself, you are going to lose the game. There’s an old saying, “Don’t make promises that you can’t keep.”?

Think about what that means, and you can see that having promises that can keep, and that you do keep, makes everything in life work. Show up for your promises, and you show up for your destiny.

When you set a goal, make it one that you can live up to, and do the work to make your promise to yourself come true. Then do it again.

Your word is your bond. It’s your gold.? It’s your life.