The habit of meaning, what you say is one of the safest ways to build long-term trusted relationships. It requires three things. Honesty. Empathy and clarity. The honesty to only promise to others what you can keep. And of course be open to say so if you can't. The empathy to understand that this is what they actually need. And the clarity to speak so that others really understand what you meant to promise. A surprisingly large amount of frustration around broken promises stems from a lack of the latter. What we said was not what we meant. At least it's not what they thought we meant. You need all three: Honesty, empathy, and clarity. You'll be recognized as a trustful person when you turn this into a habit. Only promise what you can keep, never promise what you can’t keep. Only promise what's helpful. Don't promise what's not helping. And be clear in articulating what it is that you're actually promising so that the others get it. Keep lighting the path!