We make promises all the time. And we deliver on promises all the time, too.

But we also make second promises: the promise that we will do what we said we’d do … soon.

I was about to send an email about one of these second promises. Basically, “Here’s this, and I’ll send you the other stuff soon.”

I stopped.

Instead of sending that email, I did what was necessary to finish the project. My new email said, “Here’s everything I promised.”

Delivering on a promise feels a lot better than delivering another promise.