OK, so I am sharing one of my long held secrets here…and having received a valuable lesson this week, I felt called to share.
I have long since held on to the belief that it is better to under-promise and over-deliver rather than the opposite. I try really hard to live by that particular mantra, mainly so that I never disappoint others!
Having experienced the opposite this week, I feel called to ‘out’ myself and share my thoughts. Months ago I was promised something and for months, the promise was built upon and my hopes and expectations were raised…and then, when it was received this week, I was soooo disappointed because it was not what had been promised.
This is the second or third time that has happened in recent months (in both personal and business related scenarios). Each time, I have found myself feeling ungrateful, disappointed and let down. And then I have berated myself for having these feelings, when I ‘should’ be experiencing gratitude for receiving something, when so many have nothing at all.
Then I realised its not that I am ungrateful for receiving, it’s just that I trusted the promises and I built myself up to expect so much more. So I am disappointed that the delivery was not up to promised expectations and I have ‘less’ as a result. Had I not expected anything at all, then I would now have ‘more’ than I expected!
Does this make sense? Its a valuable reminder for me to stay true to myself and never promise more than I can reasonably deliver, be that as a friend, a CEO, a conference organiser or a mum. I then have less chance of disappointing others, so its a win:win!
Perhaps there are a few politicians and advertising executives that would benefit from this particular learning, too!