YOU can change the world!

Here’s the thing ….

Doesn’t it just make you want to go absolutely stark raving mad when someone doesn’t do what they said they would do?

The painter says he will be at my house on Monday at 8 o’clock to start the job and at 11:30 he walks in as if nothing is wrong.

The guy who was supposed to start installing the Cape Cod boarding commits to having his crew on site on Thursday morning, only to call us at 9 am on the day to say “I’ve locked my keys in my car and the job we were at yesterday didn’t get finished so we will see you tomorrow.”

Naturally, everyone has an excuse.

Someone once said that excuses are like 4$$ holes, everybody has one. I think that maybe I have been put on this little blue ball for one real purpose – that is to try to get people to keep their word. To keep their promises and to do what they say they are going to do.

As I tried to be explained to the Zimbabwean painter or the South African installer, or the Portuguese plumber, if you want to change the world all you have to do is to keep your word. If you wish to have happy customers who will gladly recommend you to 1000’s of their closest friends all you have to do is keep your promise.

Can you imagine if people actually just did what they said they were going to do? You / I / we wouldn’t need lawyers. That alone is a kindness to humanity. We wouldn’t need contracts, or courts, or arbitration or conflict resolution if people just did what they said they were going to do.

Can you imagine if politicians lived by the law, “I said it – I did it” Can you imagine if politicians lived up to just a fraction of what they promised in order to be elected? Can you imagine how powerful a country this would be if the voters just kept their privileged commitment and voted?

We wouldn’t need divorce courts or marriage counselors if men would just continue to love and to cherish, to honor and to hold their wives until death they did depart. Neither would we need them if woman just continued in the same conjugal way they did during the courting phase, right up until the nuptials were completed. In other words if they kept the unwritten pre-marriage conjugal contract delivered often, and with enthusiasm. Most men reading this now are all shouting out,“amen brother”! And yes, I can see woman rolling their eyes and saying “maybe he should have kept his six-pack and athletic ways, which were in the unwritten pre-marriage delivery package that caused the sale to be closed and motivated me to conjugate”.

We wouldn’t need any buy and sell agreements, no contracts, no written guarantees, if we stuck out our hand and made a promise that whatever is on the brochure or packaging actually worked and lived up to all the promise and hype.

Honestly, if you want to have customers aplenty with the phone ringing off the hook with people who want to do business with you all you have to do is just keep your word.

Imagine the parent who follows through on his promises to chastise or reward. Imagine the staff member who actually does their job – nothing more and also nothing less. They just do the job that they promised to do on the day that they were employed in accordance with their job description. That’s it! That’s all it takes! It’s really that simple. We wouldn’t need the CCMA, the labour board, labour brokers or attorneys because people would just do their jobs as they promised they would without excuses.

Imagine if you just kept your word with yourself and stuck to the eating and exercise plan. Or if you continued the saving plan or finished the degree you started. Imagine a world where your word is your bond and it is more important to keep your word than almost anything else. And in the event of you not being able to live up to your word or your promise, you openly acknowledged and accepted your responsibilities and made good for any loss of time or income by the other party. Imagine.

Someone said to me recently that I’m living in a dream world and that such a place was impossible. I disagree. That world can happen right here and right now in your world if you become that person that always keeps their promises and does what you said you were going to do. World change starts at home.

This is not a fairy tale, I dare you to go and live in a small town where everybody knows everyone. When you disappoint one person, the whole region, the church, the school and Kathy the hairdresser knows, and you may as well move. Most of these people keep their word however not because of the obvious consequences but because they were raised right and it’s who they are as people.

We can, you can, change the world. It starts with you, now, here, today.

Put this on a shirt; put it on your business card “I said it, I did it!” Just do what you said you would do and watch the magic happen.

Have a lucky month,