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Promises
It’s so prevalent that it’s become a cliche many times over: Put your money where your mouth is. Put a ring on it. Show me. Prove it. Watch what they do, not what they say. What it means is obvious. Promises mean nothing if you don’t back it up with actions.
Big Talkers
Those are the hard lessons for big talkers to learn. It’s also hard if you are prone to enthusiastic responses to inspirational speeches. I know, because I am both. I have my father’s Irish gift of gab, can propound on any number of things. In the past, I have taken that so far as to say I will or can do something. This is especially flagrant if it was after someone has inspired me to volunteer for something. But I often fell down on the job afterwards, inspired enough to promise something, but not dedicated enough to follow through.
Maturity
Now I am less like that. I am still tempted but years of realizing the difference between promising something and delivering has made me much more cautious about making promises, especially of the grand and exalted kind. Now I really try to work through whether the promise is something I can deliver on AFTER the inspirational moment has passed. It means I promise less, maybe even do less. But it also means what I say I will do I am better at actually doing.
I think we all want to get to that point, right?
Drawing and commentary © 2016 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
Quote is a Russian proverb