I decided recently to stop for an oil change even though I knew that I was pushed for time. I walked in and asked how long I would have to wait. The eager clerk assured me that I would be in and out in 30 minutes...tops. Looking at the monstrous crowd in the waiting room I reluctantly authorized the work knowing they would never finish on time. Well, you know the end of the story...an hour later I'm finally getting my keys back.

As you can imagine I left there frustrated to say the least. And with no plans to ever return! But imagine, if you will, how different the outcome would have been had I been told that the service would be completed in an hour and fifteen minutes and in a mere hour the vehicle is completed. Even though the amount of time consumed out of my day for the oil change would have been exactly the same, I would have left feeling exuberant and well-pleased that the job was completed ahead of schedule.

I would venture to guess that almost everyday we're all promising something to someone. It may be promising clients when a product will arrive. It may be promising our boss the outcome of a potential new sale. It may be forecasting the month's sales. It may be promising our spouse when we'll arrive home from work. And I would also venture to guess that on more than one occasion we've been like the eager clerk that promised when my car would be ready: we over promise and under deliver. And we've left the person on the other end disappointed in our performance.

So why do we do it? I think it's just that we're all eager to please. We want people around us to be pleased with our performance and often we lose sight of the big picture: Over promising and under delivering is often a short-term gain but a long-term loss. Often we live in the moment of the promise, and we forget that to continue the euphoria of the promise we have to deliver a minimum of what we have just offered to produce.

Keep in mind that if we really want to please we have to under promise and over deliver. If we think we can close 10 deals this week, then we should offer that we can complete 7 or 8. If we miss our personal goal of 10 and hit 7 then expectations are still met. If we do hit our personal goal of 10 then everyone is excited about over producing!

I would invite you to just give this a try...with your boss, with clients, with others around you. See for yourself the vast difference when you under promise and over deliver. Figure out what you can realistically accomplish and then allow room in case things don't go as planned. Remember under promising and over delivering is a much better formula for success than over promising and under delivering.

About the Author

Jeff Tippett is an author, professional speaker, and entrepreneur. He attended graduate and undergraduate school at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC. Jeff has been recognized as an authority on coffee kiosks through newspaper and trade magazine publications and is certified through the International Academy of Specialty Coffee. Jeff Tippett is currently responsible for business development and marketing for Calvert Holdings, Inc. He m