No one appreciates the person who doesn’t keep the commitments that they make. I just hung up the phone from a conference call where the leader fell through on his commitment and needs to postpone until later in the day. It is frustrating and disappointing. Opportunity and productivity go out the door. We no longer trust that person and second guess whether they will come through next time.

We tend to hold others accountable and put punishments in place for those that don’t keep their commitments. But, how do we react when we don’t keep commitments to ourselves? We let the diet slip that we were so committed to a week ago. We watch too much TV when we say we wouldn’t. We put off writing that book. And what about those New Years Resolutions that we have forgotten about?

We need to keep the commitments that we make to ourselves. We need to have the same contempt and accountability for ourselves that we hold others to when we don’t hold up our end of our bargain. We need to be able to trust ourselves – that when we say to ourselves that we are going to do something, we do it! Hold an accountability session with yourself at least once a week and measure how well you are keeping your promises to yourself. You deserve it.