Fashion Business Owner Musings: Keep Your Word to Yourself
Vocalizing our goals is the same as making promises to ourselves.
We say that we want to do something, try something, or accomplish something. We declare it. And then it’s up to us to keep our word.
Keeping our word is actually more difficult than it sounds. Especially when we have to keep the word we made to ourselves. There’s no one to hold us accountable. There’s no one else expecting something.
I think that it’s easier to keep the promises we make to someone else than it is to keep the ones we make to ourselves. Because keeping our word to others feels like something we need to do in order to not disappoint that person, to not let them down. But for some reason, we don’t tend to have that same sense of obligation when it comes to keeping the promises we make to ourselves.
This time of year, when things are coming to a close and we’re excitedly making plans for a fresh start, it’s easy to make a list of goals, daydream about the things we want, and declare with conviction that this is our year! And all of that is wonderful. It should be done. It’s how we get set and accomplish goals.
But if we don’t learn to create a habit of keeping our word to ourselves, then none of those things matter.
It’s like going to the gym, right? All these disciplined convictions with really good intentions, but often 3 weeks in, we find ourselves slipping. Not keeping our word. Forgetting our promises.
Listen, there’s a certain amount of slipping that we’ll all do. That’s natural. But we can’t let ourselves slip with everything. And I’m talking to myself as much as I’m talking to you.
When an idea is in the abstract, it’s easy to decide that you will do it. It’s when the planning starts that things get iffy.
When you have to do the work, when you have to try things that you’re not used to or that scare you a little, then those convictions start to weaken a bit.
We start to let things go, often out of fear, and sometimes out of laziness.
And then we suddenly realize that all these good intentions, all these promises, are not actually happening.
And that’s damn disappointing.
So my challenge to you is to call yourself out when you’re breaking your promises to yourself. Remind yourself of all that you want to accomplish in your fashion business as well as the other areas of your life. Tell yourself that fear should not keep you from your goals. And decide to keep your word to yourself.
Lots of love and encouragement,
