Do What You Say You Are Going to Do

Nothing kills progress or deadens enthusiasm more than someone

who talks but never follows through. It is crucial in both your home
life and your work life that you stay focused and committed to whatever
you say you will do.
BOB WAS LOOKING for a new line of work. Already past the age when
most people retire, he knew that some would think he was too old to
learn anything new.
But Bob had always been fascinated by planes, and one day he just
presented himself at the small airport near his home outside Memphis.
He didn’t know much about planes, but Bob’s background as a former
marine convinced the general manager that Bob could be counted on.
Bob’s tasks include fueling aircraft, which sometimes means climbing
up on their wings. But without him literally nothing can happen at the
airport.
Bob’s boss says he hired him because he had “something we see in
very few workers: ethics. I had somebody that I knew would be here
when we needed him.”
As Bob says, “There is no ‘almost’ in aviation. This is a job for getting
things done.”
People who have a high rate of following through on their commitments are
41 percent more likely to express confi dence in themselves and 28 percent
more likely to say they feel in control of their lives. (Stewart, Carson, and
Cardy 1996)