If I could name *the* one most important quality of a potential team member, friend, or pretty-much anyone I am going to bring into my life, this is it:

If you say you’re going to do something, you go do it.

It’s such a straightforward principle. And yet, crazily enough, people (even professionals) don’t always follow through on their committments.  Maybe people commit to things they don’t plan to do because they’re afraid to say no, or telling people what they want to hear is just easier.  Or they lack a proper way to manage their time or their commitments.  Or because your relationship isn’t all that important to them.  But it’s crazy how damaging that behaviour is over time —  If you don’t follow through on what you say you’re going to do,

1. you break down trust in your relationship.
2. you damage your credibility.
3. people start to build a Plan B and Plan C when they have to deal with you.
4. you reinforce a lack of discipline to push your comfort zone in yourself.

Conversely, if you *do* follow through:

1. you build a reputation of trust.
2. you build a reputation of effectiveness and dependability.
3. people don’t have to build contingency plans to deal with you.
4. you build the discipline to push your comfort zone in yourself.

The cognitive overhead of dealing with people who don’t follow through is too high.