Overcommitting & Underproducing

An out-of-control culture focused on busyness tends to create men who…

1—Over-promise.

2—Over-commit.

3—Under-produce.

This starts with the engagement of a project, meeting, or endeavor. The temptation comes to respond with a “yes,” even if there is admittedly a chance you have no desire or time to carry this out. Next, the realization comes there is no way the agreement made is going to be completed, thereby knowing, once again, an over-commitment has taken place. Lastly, production of the promise and the commitment made is non-existent. And another is added to the list.

So, why does this happen?

1—People-pleasing.

2—Fear of conflict.

3—Aversion to honesty.

There is a strong chance that if you are reading this, your life goal is to be a man of integrity, and even deeper for many, a man known to be godly and following Jesus.

When we over-promise, over-commit, and under-produce, it not only hurts our name, but His. When we work to please people first, avoid potential conflict, and learn to passively lie to try and keep all the balls juggling without dropping (again), we hurt our name—and His.

So, do you need to make a call or send an email to apologize, get honest, and offer realism on a deadline? Maybe reach out to several people? Need to make a call to say, “I know I said ‘yes’ before, but to avoid an even bigger problem later, I’m going to say ‘no’ now.”

We are all going to make mistakes in our day-to-day dealings with people. We are all going to mess up and miss something. Here, we are talking about a pattern of letting people down, hurting our reputation, and our witness.

The great news today is God is quite good at helping us wiping the slate clean, start again, and walk in a new direction.

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. —Proverbs 3:3-4