To succeed, create assurances, not promises

Success in life depends on "assurances" not "promises." (Both promises you make and promises that other people make to you).

An assurance, is a promise that has been programmed, in some way, to result in its fulfillment.

A promise, on the other hand, is just a promise; it's just a verbal statement of what you intend to do. You might, for various reasons, change your mind later on (in which case the other person loses, and you also lose your credibility).

So how do you create ASSURANCES rather than PROMISES?

The secret is to focus on PLEASURE and PAIN.

In other words, make sure that if you keep your promise (to your friends, family, clients, etc.), you will gain something valuable, and also that if you fail on your promise, you will SUFFER something significant.

For example, the two young founders of Notehall.com intiially "promised" to Dragon investors that within 24 months, they'd generate 10 million dollars in revenues (or a similar amount, I don't remember exactly).

The investors' reaction was, understandably, one of disbelief. They even thought these two kids were a bit arrogant.

But then came the punch line from the two entrepreneurs: "If we don't deliver on that promise, we both will give you our share of the business."

In other words, they would lose the business they founded if they did not deliver on the promise!

This time, the investors were very impressed! Ah, they thought, they're putting their money where their mouth is!

So guess what? They got their investment from some of those investors!

You can check out Notehall.com, they're successful.

Now, in your case, you might not be an entrepreneur seeking capital. You might be a job seeker or an entrepreneur seeking joint venture partners.

Regardless, this principle will still serve you well.

In other words, create assurances, not promises. Nobody believes in a promise, and those who do are not serious about the deal they are getting into.

Notice, by the way, that an assurance is not the opposite of a promise; it includes yet transcends the promise.

A promise is like an atom, an assurance then is the molecule: it includes yet transcends the atom.

A promise is like a body part (like your right hand) while an assurance is the entire body; it has more power.

In the end, when you look at success and how it happens, it usually depends on other people collaborating with you or buying from you or partnering with you.

Yet, they (the smart and rich ones) won't deal with you if you only offer promises. You've got to be creative and create assurances where, if you fail to deliver, you are penalized, but also you are rewarded if you perform.

Your clients and partners, therefore, know that you are likely to keep your promises.

In a future post, I will talk about 8 secret methods for making your promises credible, that is, promises that will be instantly believed by other people.