Why? To Be Counted On Being reliable in the eyes of others is an excellent way to build good people relations.
Get in the habit of keeping your word and following through on things you're supposed to.
People want to be around others who they can rely on and not ones who constantly let them down.
You'll find the more reliable you are, the more others will look to you for advice, guidance and support.
You'll quickly be considered a person of integrity all because you kept your word.
You can still be respected even if you aren't able to deliver on your promises as long as you communicate it to the other party as soon as possible.
This demonstrates respect and signifies that you recognize the value of your own words and have taken their feelings into account.
To Be Trusted In a recent poll on my blog, 40 per cent of the respondents believed that trusting others was the number one challenge of collaborative work.
Trust is the foundation upon which relationships are built, but it doesn't stop there.
You see, it also has a dual purpose; trust helps keep things together like an adhesive.
Things would fall apart without it.
It's a voluntary action that nobody can make you do, no matter how hard they try.
You choose to trust when you feel it's appropriate.
It can be compared to money in that it's hard to earn, but easy to spend.
To Be Appreciative The laws of reciprocity clearly states that in most cases, people will return acts of favour and kindness out of a sense of obligation when it's shown towards them.
So, if you want people to keep their promises to you, you need to do the same.
It's kind of like parenting.
You're modelling the behaviour you want children to exhibit, so when they grow up, they'll fall back on the example set for them.
It is possible to quietly influence others to act positively through your own actions, but as with most rules, there are exceptions.
If you're dealing with an unscrupulous character, there's nothing you can do to change them.
They'll break their word regardless of what you do.
How? Learn To Say No You need to be realistic about your limitations.
As much as you'd like to, you can't be all things to all people.
It's easy to fall into the trap of over-extending yourself, especially if you have pure intentions.
The unfortunate side of things is that your intentions aren't always visible to others, so if you let them down, it could turn against you.
One sure fire way of making sure you don't break your word is to learn how to say no and not put yourself in a regretful situation.
Break the Habit We all have habits that we need to break; I used to really struggle with being punctual.
I knew that if I wanted to kick the habit, I needed to consciously make the mental shift and replace my bad habit with new behaviours.
Sometimes we do the right thing by acknowledging the problem, but we never take the natural next step to stop the habit.
There's a rule that says it takes 21 days to develop a new habit, so be patient, you're not necessarily going to have results overnight.
Honesty Honesty is always the best policy to follow.
Don't pretend to like the ballet if you know you can't stand it.
This doesn't mean you shouldn't go, but you should make sure that the other person fully understands your true position on the matter.
Keeping this in mind helps you stay out of uncomfortable situations and gives everybody a clear picture of what really is going on.