Is a Promise Better Than a Goal?
“It takes a lot of courage to keep a promise.”
We must have written or set goals for a number of things in our lives, but how many times have we been able to actually follow through them, only to nod our heads in sadness for not accomplishing them. According to the basic human psychology, when we set goals, we subconsciously forgo them because we are not committed to them. On the other hand, we make promises to keep them, mostly because failing a promise may lead to bigger embarrassments. Thus before we make any commitment, we have to think whether we are making a promise or not.
People often go to varying lengths to fulfill their promises. For example, if you have promised your boy friend to get back into that seductive looking dress that he just presented and which is a size less, then you may look for a variety of options including weight loss pills. However, if you have not made a promise and only set a goal, you may shilly-shally the entire issue and just pass it off without much ado.
Goals are nothing but directions that we set and try reach or follow. We should not grieve much if we are unable to follow the goals or the milestones that we have set. A better way would be to continue positioning the goals and strive to reach them. In contrast, according to some people, when you promise something, you are motivated by that ‘negative’ emotion which drives your inner self to fulfill the promise, especially if the promise has been made in public. Basically you are liable for its failure or success. Upon success you will reward yourself or be rewarded by someone, and this could be the motivation. However, we cannot say the same for goals, which can be easily erased from our memory.
Now, if you are in a business network, what are the key components of branding and social media? It is the promise that you make to your customers in order to achieve maximum sales. Your way of delivering the products, your representatives for business and the way your customers are treated, are the critical aspects of delivering that promise. But when you are advertising for your brand, your goal is to grab the attention of a customer and create such visual impressions that a response is prompted instantly. So, for a successful branding strategy, you are using both the factors of making a promise and reaching the goals.
When you were a child, you must have definitely shrieked, “But you promised!” It is that agony of cry which is often flung at the adults by their children. And this accusation of “You promised!” cuts you deeply as somewhere in our sub-conscious mind we know the importance of keeping that promise. This is perhaps one of the reasons why we take those vows in a marriage.
The bottom line is that we are supposed to keep the promises as they are sacred, while goals can be shifted according to the circumstances.
Love,
Janet x
