To succeed in life and at work, you must gain a reputation as someone who can be trusted and relied upon.  Whenever someone believes you will do something, they have trusted you.  They have assumed you will keep your promises.  If you fail to do as you agreed, you lose that trust.  Your hurt your chances for success.

For example, you tell your friend Martha, “If you let me use your truck, I’ll bring it back on Monday, perfectly clean, and with a full tank of gas.”  Your friend agrees.  If you bring the truck back on Wednesday, dirty and almost out of gas, Martha can no longer trust you.

3 Ways To Become More Trustworthy

1. Keep all of your promises.

For example:  You agree to drive your boss to the airport in the morning.  You get ready and try to start your car and it won’t start.  Instead of letting your boss down, you mike it go right.  You borrow a car, rent a car or hire a taxi.  You pick up your boss, as promised.

2. Be careful what you promise.  Give accurate statements.

Example: You know you can write 3 reports tonight, and maybe two more.  Don’t say, “I’ll write 5 reports tonight.”  Instead say, “I’ll get 3 reports done and hope to write 2 more as well.”

3. If you realize you will not be able to keep your word, no matter what you try, tell the person immediately.

“if you can give me one more day to fix your car, I’ll take off 5% for the delay.”

Six Benefits Of Earning Trust:

1. When you make big promises, people will not hesitate to believe you.
2. You earn important support from people in positions of power.
3. The people who trust you will recommend you to others.
4. Because people trust you, they feel comfortable with you and will confide in you.
5. When new opportunities pop up, people tell you about them.
6. You have more confidence and pride in yourself.  You are happier!

Creative Commons Attribution: Permission is granted to repost this article in its entirety with credit to Janice Wheeler and a clickable link back to this page.