Congruence - walk the talk

# Chapter 113

The two parts of DWYSYWD - saying and doing.

Walk the talk and talk the walk. Congruence. Alignment of words and actions. Credibility.

Good intentions mean nothing. What you say and what you do matter. Intentions are your internal emotional and mental digits on your wish-thermometer. People are left with the concrete things they can see and respond to, which are your words and your actions.

Intentions can be and are a key component of saying and doing, but intentions can not stand alone. Intentions will never been heard (saying) or seen (doing) all by themselves.

You have to communicate what you will do. This saying is the first part, the first framework that people will judge your credibility by. This is why I think this needs to be DMTWYSYWD - do MORE THAN what you say you will do. Now that totally captures a credibility that will never fail you. Assuming of course that you eventually DO more than what you said you would do.

Once I had a client ask me, “wouldn’t it be better to not say or promise anything?” And the answer to that is no. People are people. They need to see you congruence play out. They need to see your processes in motion. This is just like my dad and I watching the engineers build the new bridge near his house. We watched them put all the right pieces into play, the rebar, the I-beams, the concrete, and our confidence in this bridge grows as we see it come together.

Then do more than you said you would is best, but at the very very least precisely what you said you would along with all the implications of what you said you would. This equals unshakeable credibility. The future belongs to you now. Leverage it. You built this credibility train, now ride it and change the world.