Why Over Promise?

Most companies over promise and under deliver.  It’s not uncommon for a company claiming to have the world’s best customer service to take 2 weeks to answer their emails.

In my own life I recently promised my youtube subscribers I’d have my latest video up by Friday.  I figured it was a reasonable estimate, but it’s Saturday morning now and I still haven’t finished.

I’ve only mildly disappointed a handful of people, but in doing so I’ve started to change the way I make promises.

People were disappointed in me because I didn’t live up to my word.  If I would have said to expect the video sometime this weekend, they would have been satisfied because their expectations would have been met.

People don’t like when others break their promises.  However, they love when they’re promised something and the promiser over delivers.

It’s like a straight “A” student getting a “C” vs someone on the verge of dropping out getting a “C”.  Same results, but because of wildly different expectations, the reactions for the two will be completely different.

Instead of making promises to others you can’t live up to, why not set low expectations and pleasantly surprise them?

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