doug smith training

"Not so fast!" "What?" "I didn't say yes. At least not yet. Be careful of assuming it's a yes..." I don't like to be pushed, how about you? I don't like it when people assume that any answer that is not a no must logically be a yes. Maybe not. It's fine to pause. It's worth thinking. No one can fault you for taking a breath, or two, or three! A pause, before a promise, can prevent that promise from being broken. I'd like to be someone who keeps my promises. How about you? -- doug smith  

  Every problem contains a promise.  That promise is a solution that leads to improvement, that leads to satisfaction, that leads to success. It's not guaranteed, of course, but the promise is there. Why hide from it? The promise of a problem sparks the seeds of success.  Find the promise, it will pull you toward the solution. -- doug smith

A deadline given to you by someone else is their deadline, not yours. Agreement is everything. -- doug smith  

  Do you have any promises with yourself? Maybe a promise about a goal?  Sometimes I have let go of a promise and then picked it up again much later. If it ever appealed to me, there's probably still some energy there. How about you? Keep the promises alive by making progress every day. I'm working on it. How about you? -- doug smith

We've all broken promises. It's possible that we didn't even realize it when we did. Maybe we mentioned an opportunity to someone and then didn't follow-up on it. Or, maybe we promised someone a gift after a big favor, and then forgot all about it. We don't always mean malice when we break a promise, but still the pain is there. People count on their leaders. They want promises kept. A broken promise is remembered forever and the person who broke it loses a bit of credibility in the promise. High performance leaders keep their promises, even when it's not convenient to do so. It's hard to keep a promise -- that's what makes it so powerful when we do. Please, keep your promises. I'll do my best to keep them, too. -- doug smith

How do you feel about broken promises? I hate them. They break my heart. They tear me up. And yet, I've broken lots of promises of my own. It feels different when someone else breaks a promise. They've made a terrible mistake. And yet when it's me who has broken the promise I can easily find a rationalization or a reason or even put blinders on so that I don't see the broken promise. Some days we all have blinders on. Some things we can't see because they're too close. Then, what does a promise mean? Is it really so transitory? Is it really just the hope of a promise and not really a promise? When we make a promise, how long are we obligated to keep it? A promise is a promise. To break it requires a new agreement. If both people do not reach that new agreement, a broken promise is an infraction, a harm. I'm learning oh so well to be very careful about promises. Careful about what I promise, and careful about what I accept from others as a promi...