If what I said I would make happen doesn't happen exactly as I said it
would happen, for whatever the reason, then I did not keep my word.
If I keep my word every time I give it, then I'm not playing big
enough.
Whenever we give our word, we can phrase it whichever way we choose.
There's a subtle lack of fit between what we say we'll make happen, and
what actually happens.
Furthermore, we often dismiss this lack of fit as inevitable. We make
little distinction between making happen what we said is going to
happen, and having a reasonable excuse for not making happen what we
said is going to happen. It is as if the reasonable excuse negates the
fact that you didn't do what you said you were going to do.
However, you don't keep your word in order to be right: you keep your
word in order to keep your word. You make happen what you said is going
to happen just because you said you would.
This essay,
Keeping Your Word Is A Black And White Issue,
originally appeared in my
thesisBREAKTHROUGH
SKYDIVING
which is available at