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April 06
Edition

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Stop Breaking Promises

- by Chris Jacobs       www.ctsbayside.com.au

Do you ever wonder where the time goes? As you are reading this piece it will probably be sometime in the middle of April, meaning it has already been a month since the Commonwealth games started, four months since Christmas, three years since we initially set foot in Iraq, getting close to six and half years since we were all concerned about something called Y2K and just about 20 years since the world panicked as a result of the October 1987 market crash.

As you briefly contemplate this and wonder what you personally have accomplished over these respective periods, remember that time never stands still and if you don’t do the things that you planned and always wished to do, it may be too late.

Now the reason I have opened with this thought is that we often make promises to ourselves via things like New Years Resolutions.

Governments make promises to us in terms of policy initiatives and companies make promises about products and services they plan to launch and why they are better than both their predecessors and competition.

Without saying anything profound, we are all guilty of breaking these promises, frankly on a regular basis.

Just as a short list:

• Sony has delayed the launch of their new Playstation

• Microsoft has continually put back the release of their new Windows as well as removing initially promised features.

• Both the free to air channels and the federal government are dragging their heels in regards to digital television

• You only have to go to your local gym and see how many memberships were bought in January compared to attendance levels now.

We as a society often complain about our corporations and governments at all levels breaking their promises, but they are only made up of people like ourselves who are breaking promises and commitments all the time.

Thus it can be hypocritical to expect something of another when we are failing ourselves.

The New Years Resolution custom actually originated in ancient Babylon when most of the resolutions recorded concerned the returning of borrowed gardening tools.

This actually makes it an older celebration than most of our other major events like Mother’s Day, birthdays, Christmas and Easter.

I think we all mean well when we say we are going to do things we set out to do but maybe this year, have one resolution that you plan to achieve and then buddy up with up somebody so you both keep each other on track.

It is always easier to buy that car, quit smoking or pass that course when you have got someone supporting you the whole way.

So before this year and decade slips away from you, maybe it is time to take that chance that you have been putting off for probably a whole host of reasons, but in all likelihood boils down to some sort of fear.

Whether it be fear of failure or rejection, maybe leaving a comfort zone with friends and family, the reaction of those around you, or just a fear of getting off your backside.
Thomas Edison invented things which, still a hundred years later, play a major part in our society. If there was one thing he was “successful” at it was failing, but to him that was a lesson to create something better and not a reason to quit.

As a famous person once said, the only true way to fail is to never try. Regardless of where you are in life when you look back, it will be the opportunities you didn’t take that you regret, rather than the times you tried and maybe came a little short.

[by Chris Jacobs]

Chris Jacobs

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