Living with Resilience: Keep Your Word

Some days I wake up feeling discouraged, frustrated and tired of it all. I call it a COVID day when I grieve the way things used to be and berate myself for not completing my book, getting organized or reaching out to more family with all the extra time I think I should have. I may even self-medicate with sugar and busyness, even though I know it won’t help. And then I remember a self-leadership skill that will, keeping my word.

Keeping your word is keeping your promise. This may sound obvious, but when we start paying attention, we may realize we talk about doing things more than we actually do them. For me, this includes getting up early to write, not tackle email, decluttering my crawl space, or calling my homebound aunt because I said I would.

Keeping your word helps you do the right thing to stay the course, even when you don’t want to. It nurtures trust and confidence in the relationship you have with yourself and everyone else because it helps you feel good about yourself.

Here are 5 ways to help you keep your word:

  1. Get Grounded

    Slow down or stop altogether and ask, What is really most important right now? Busyness breeds more busyness and stillness cultivates clarity.

  2. Be Impeccable with Your Word

    This is the first agreement in Dan Miguel’s The Four Agreements because our words have a lot of power. Before you say you will do something, (out loud or to yourself), be certain it is both realistic and important to you.

  3. Speak Your Truth

    Be honest and determine what is really a priority, even if it’s uncomfortable, unpopular, or unexpected. We must decide what matters most, and do that.

  4. Create Structure

    While I tend to reject structure and routine, I know how effective it is to help me keep my word. Time-blocking, Eating my frogs, and creating deadlines are essential for anything I really want to get done.

  5. Recommit

    We all have COVID days and need to recommit to keeping our word in the smallest and biggest of ways. All the decisions I make today, like what I eat for dinner and what time I go to bed affect my ability to keep the promises I make for tomorrow.

When you keep your word, you are doing the right thing and staying the course for your patients, family, community and most importantly, yourself. This self-leadership skill builds your resilience when you need it most, which is right now.

8 Comments

  1. Neil on October 1, 2020 at 1:44 pm

    Good advice!

  2. Molly Hargarten on October 1, 2020 at 3:40 pm

    Great tips. I find it hard to feel good many days because of COVID. I’ve started to form habits that interconnect with each other. Like, after I workout in the morning, I stay put and meditate. My meditation shrine is near my workout space so it is easy to do. I feel better alll day if I meditate first.

    • Diane Sieg on October 2, 2020 at 8:41 pm

      Beautiful Molly! James Clear calls this habit stacking :).

  3. Leona on October 1, 2020 at 3:43 pm

    When it all boils down, all we really have is our attitude and our word. In a world gone amok all we can do is stay with those two things we can control. God bless. And here’s to 2021 although we should never wish time away.

    • Diane Sieg on October 2, 2020 at 8:42 pm

      Thank you Leona. We can still control our attitude and word in this last quarter of 2020!

  4. Judy on October 20, 2020 at 8:52 pm

    so true…how often have we thought to do these actions but not quite followed through on them? definitely a way to a healthier self

    • Diane Sieg on November 4, 2020 at 12:34 am

      Hi Judy,

      I have found all self-leadership skills to be an ongoing practice! Thanks for writing.

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