Day 142: Keeping A Promise

There are times when you just do not want to fulfill your promises or follow through with certain tasks. However, it is during this time when you must continue with your actions. This is when it is crucial that you follow through with your word. Nothing matters more in that instant.

To be honest, writing this blog post is quite the task. It is midnight and I was just about to get into bed when I realized I had not yet written my blog post for the day. After a day spent with a raging headache and the evening spent watching the amazing Downton Abbey and talking with friends on the phone, I was quite ready to curl up under my fluffy blankets.

Yet as I got up to turn off my light, I remembered my dedication to my blog. I was reminded of the promise I made to myself to write a blog post every day for an entire year. And so I sat down and began writing.

How often have we broken a promise we have made to ourselves? How often have we set out to do something and then allowed the action to slip past us once only to never be done again? When we promise ourselves to complete something or form a new habit, we take on a very large commitment. If we do not keep that promise, we are disappointing ourselves and letting ourselves down.

I believe that the promises we make ourselves are some of the most important ones we can ever make. Yet they are often the ones we let go of the fastest. Breaking our own word will always lead to a place of disappointment in the long run. You will regret the days you didn't go to the gym, didn't make that phone call, didn't submit to that one thing, etc. When you break your own promises, you will be the only one who suffers from it.

So keep your promises. If you make the promise to do something every day, do it. Even if it's midnight and you would much rather be in bed. It is making those hard decisions of continuing on when you would rather not that builds up a character of success. Doing those little things even when you don't want to will help you in the long run when you have something big on your plate that you would rather not do. When that happens you will keep that promise because you have become the kind of person who keeps promises.

There is nothing easy about doing the hard thing when you want to be doing something else. But that is the difference between successful and unsuccessful people. Unsuccessful people do not keep the promises they made and they take the easy road. Successful people do the hard thing especially when they don't want to do it again and if they stumble for even a second they're pushing on even harder the next.

You can do it, you can keep the promises you have made to yourself. I know you can.

Until Next Time,
Lillian Merritt