Your Gold Standard is the Key to Your Success

Published on January 30, 2012

You can lose everything in life – your house, money, relationships, etc. and you can still come back, as long as you have your word.

Your WORD is your gold standard.  It is the basis on how people judge as to whether or not they will take a chance on you.  It will impact their decisions for funding your next initiative, giving you a mortgage and yes, even getting into a new relationship or even fixing an old one.Yet why is it in life all of us at some point or another have trouble keeping our word.  Did you ever tell some one you will be calling them at a certain time and never did?  Or that you would be stopping by with a proposal for their review and you are two days late.  The common promises we make dozens of times a day all impact how others view our ability to keep our word.  The more promises you don’t keep, the lower your gold standard is.

Think about when a service company promises to be at your house at a certain time of day.  You probably add a little time to account for lateness. But what happens when that person never shows or is two hours late?  What happens to your plans?  Do you get aggravated?  Do you feel rejected, disrespected and yes put upon?

Well, that is how others feel when you make even simple promises like calling someone back and never do.  They wait with anticipation and then you leave them to their own devices to make up any assumption they care to as to why you did not call them back, most of which are untrue.

In sales, it is common to promise a buyer a delivery date or some form of promised offering.  When that promise cannot be kept, we advise sales people to call the buyer up and advise them of the situation.  One thing buyers cannot deal with is surprises.  They may not be happy when you call to alert them of the delay.  But at least they can put into motion actions that will limit the impact of the delay and show others they are on top of things.

Did you ever think that your promises impact the promises others make and when you don’t come through, you force others to fail in keeping their own promises?  It is the domino effect.

If you want to increase your lot in life, achieve greater success, greater riches and fulfillment, just concentrate on the simple act of keeping your word.

Without it, you cannot get other people’s support and without their support, where will you be?