Have you ever heard someone say, “My word is my bond”? Did you believe them? Was it you? Did you believe you?
When asked, most people will tell you that honesty is ‘one of their highest’ values, but is it really? And if it is, are they living up to this value? There are two types of honesty; that which you have with others and, that which you have with yourself. Unfortunately if someone fails at the ‘self-honesty’ then they can hardly be honest with others.
In fact, honesty with one’s self is one of the most fundamental aspects to success. It leads to health, action, and honesty with others.
Honesty with others is a decision, but one that can only be made after choosing to be honest with one’s self. So then, one more question, “How honest are you with yourself?”
I know that in the past this has been a struggle for me. Honesty with others was not a mystery, and honesty with myself was a complete mystery. When I told myself how I ‘should’ do this and I ‘should’ do that… I would often fail to take any action at all. One day that changed, I saw a speaker by the name of Bob Rometo, who taught a concept he called, “LIVING YOUR WORD”.
Mr.Rometo gave some powerful advice to back up his teaching. After that day, when I heard myself say, “i really should…”, I would force myself to take action. It was hard at first, as most change is. I took it day by day, one step at a time. I would remind myself that if something is a ‘should’ , isn’t it really a ‘must’?
All of a sudden this started to spill over into my relationships… if someone asked me to do something in the old days, I would say, “Yeah… sounds okay…” Which really meant, “Maybe, if I feel like it, or find the time…”
Now I either say, “Yes, I will” or “No, I will not”. Suddenly people around me started treating me like an action taker! I may have started taking more action, but more than that, I was giving people a positive “YES” or “NO” that they knew I would stand behind. My word had become my bond.