Promises to make to yourself

We spend our lives making many promises to others, but shouldn’t the promises we make to ourselves be just as, if not more important?

Should we not take careful thought about what we want for ourselves?

What we will and will never do to ourselves ever, or again?

There are many promises that we can make to ourselves, but there are some that are essential that we do.

If we keep these fundamental promises to ourselves, we are bound for a better quality of life than if we went along without giving these things the thought and commitment they deserve.

What promises will improve your life?

Here are eight types of self-promises that can improve your life.

Each of these promises is aimed at helping you:

• stay organized and focused
• take care of yourself
• make sure you are doing your best

Promise yourself that you will develop an organized system to manage your goals and priorities.

Everyone loves their phones, and granted, smartphones can be good tools.

I use them for things like meeting and medication reminders.

However, I am still a huge fan of the tangible, physical planner, where we can write things down and see upcoming things in the big picture.

Make e-mail folders to keep things organized, tidy, and prioritized.

Promise that you will say “no”

Learning to say “no” is hard to master.

Once you do, you will be so glad that you did!

It is empowering, and it is honest.

Start with saying no when someone asks you to do something outside your abilities or the time you have available to accomplish it.

Always start your day off right

Give yourself a minimum of 30-60 minutes to ease yourself into your day.

Have a cup of coffee or tea, listen to that podcast you have been waiting for, or read a book or newspaper section chapter.

No matter what you do, ensure that you calmly ease into the day, as this will set the tone for the day.

A morning routine like this can improve your life in ways you can’t imagine.

The way you end your day is just as important as the way you start

Promise yourself that you will not leave for the day without crossing off your To Do list, returning all e-mails, and making all needed phone calls.

This allows you to start and end your workday with a clean slate, preventing you from taking your work home with you.

The trick here is not to overload your To Do list.

Always break things down into small and manageable steps

This will pay off with leaps and bounds in the long run.

Too often, people take on many projects and think of the project in its totality.

When they do this, they feel overwhelmed and cannot handle the idea.

They have little faith in themselves to complete the project.

Promise to sit down, take a breath, and clear your thoughts.

Now, break the large task into small, manageable steps that feel possible and easily completed.

Be realistic and fair in the promises that we make to ourselves

Often we have a habit of not only setting our own standards too high but of holding other people to these unrealistic standards when they are not aware we are judging them.

Correcting this starts with ourselves.

If we set realistic and manageable goals for ourselves, we are much more likely to expect that same level of others.

Promising ourselves that we will do this with ourselves will have the bonus of improving our expectations and interactions with others regarding the goals and tasks they are working on.

Promise yourself never to take yourself too seriously

You are human!

You will screw up, and sometimes it will be on such a large scale.

It is actually comical if you allow yourself to see it.

If you can tell yourself, “Ok, I epically messed up here and got way off track.”

You can then turn around and decide how you will correct your blunder!

It is quite possible to end up with a better product than what you started with because you allowed yourself to interject humor and exclude worry and self-pity.

Promise that you will reward yourself for your success

You will allow yourself to enjoy each step on the ladder as you work your way up it instead of just moving ahead.

Too many people are so busy looking towards the next goal, or the end goal, that they forget to celebrate the small victories as they go along.

They never learn that you can be both content with where you are at but still have goals you are working towards.

If we do not promise to change this way of thinking, there are so many joys that we will miss out on in our lives.

Which promise should you start with?

Maybe all these promises sound like something you need to do.

Or, maybe, there are a few that you already do, and you spotted one or two more you should do from now on?

Start by making small and meaningful changes to your thoughts and how you do things.

Let us know in the comment section below if there are other promises we should make to ourselves.

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