Never is a promise

I read several blogs a day (thanks, Google Reader!), and one of my favorites is author Seth Godin's simply titled Seth Godin's Blog. His entries are some of the shortest on my blog roll, but also some of the most thought provoking. This post from last week particularly stood out to me:

Delivering on never 

I will never miss a deadline
I will never leave a typo
I will never fail to warn you about a possible pitfall
I will never charge you more than the competition
I will never violate a confidence
I will never let you down
I will never be late for a meeting

There are lots of sorts of never you can deliver to a customer. You can't deliver all of them, of course. Picking your never and sticking with it is a fabulous way to position yourself. 

The adage "never say never" exists so we can either stay open to all possibilities or protect ourselves from making promises we can't keep (interesting how different the interpretations are, right?). Almost in contrast, I interpret Godin's message to mean that sometimes those promises of never doing something can actually create more possibilities. That is to say, commit and stick to your guns, and success will open doors.

I'd have a hard time contesting the "nevers" Godin has offered to give to customers, as they are all admirable and achievable. However, I'm stuck thinking more about what my "never" promise is to myself. For some time I've considered it a luxury to never do something I don't believe will be successful, and to never do something I don't completely believe in, to be a luxury--and I still think I'd be kidding myself to think keeping that promise to myself won't come at a cost. But I'm realizing more and more just how much it will pay off in the long run, and, as Godin says, what a fabulous way it can be to position myself.