It’s better to underpromise and over-deliver than the opposite.
Our Lord Jesus gave a parable of the two sons whom their father asked to go labour in the vineyard for him in Mattew 21:28-32. The first son declined, saying that he won’t be able to go to work for his father in the vineyard. But later, he changed his mind and went.
The second son on the contrary quickly agreed with his father, maybe to show that he was an obedient and hardworking son. He gave a huge promise but when the father left, he rescinded his agreement. And Jesus asked a simple but deep question, “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
You see, when you give a lofty promise, the expectations become very high automatically and you’re under intense pressure to meet them.
It’s like someone who went to make a pitch with Venture Capital. If out of excitement or desire to make a huge impression on the board, you promise that you’ll have a turnover of a billion dollars in a year, while realistically (with the best of forecasts) you can only turn in a hundred million, you’ll find yourself out of business in a year or they could even sale your company, irrespective of your shares.
It’s better to state how things truly are, how much you can realise, what you can do realistically and leave it there. If anyone wants to invest in you, they will. And it’s sweeter and more fulfilling for you and your investors that you overperformed beyond the wildest projections, maybe even getting 120% of your original projection. Lies and exaggerations aren’t necessary, absolutely.
Also, in your dealings with people, be comfortable to say what you can do… realistically. Don’t raise hopes to dash them later; it’s better to remain humble about what you can do and the other party discovers that you’re better than he/she imagined.
So, it’s always better to underpromise and overperform than to overpromise and underperform. Any day. You are not devaluing yourself; you’re being true to yourself and your abilities.
Thanks for reading. Kindly share and check out other interesting articles on this blog. God bless you.
