When you say “I will,” is that a promise?

I’ve been thinking about what commitments mean a lot over the past few days. There was a great conversation with coauthor of The Promise Doctrine, Craig P. Womack, on Tuesday. The heart of the book can be summed up in one statement: Do what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’re going to do it. Put another way, “I will do that” means “I promise to do that.”

For many, however, “I will” translates to something very different: “When I get around to it, if nothing else comes up, when it’s convenient for me, I might do that.” Not a promise. Instead, it’s something slippery and formless, without substance. And most certainly, it’s something that cannot be depended upon.

That’s the heart of the matter. If “I will” means take it to the bank, then great things can happen. Trains run on time. Buildings get built. Commerce is conducted. And you better believe it: Trust in increased.

When “I will” means “maybe,” then dependencies are enhanced. Can’t move forward because you don’t know if that person will come through or not. Duplication of effort, ineffectiveness, inefficiency, all that crap grows at an exponential rate. And distrust flourishes.

Reputations are made and lost on this stuff.

Now, I’m not saying I’m perfect, y’all. In the past, I have said my share of “I will” that didn’t translate to “I promise.” And I totally get that when I strapped on this tag line, The Productivity Maven, I raised the bar. Big time. I know this is an area of work and growth for me. I get that.

I also get that “promise” is a loaded word for some folks. When I posed some questions about promises to my Tweeps, it was pretty clear that “I promise” holds a deeper meaning than “I will.” And the idea of breaking promises was harder to swallow than simply “not following through” was.

In writing their book, Craig P. Womack and his son, Jason W. Womack, posed this statement: “When I make a promise, what I mean is…” I have a different question for you.

When you say “I will” (or something that implies that you will), what do you mean by that? What is the difference between making a commitment and making a promise?

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If you were intrigued by this idea, you might enjoy this other stuff about reliability, too:

Throwing out the Excuses

Putting People First

Promise or Commit: The Real Difference Between Winners and Losers