68 The Six Secrets of PowerPhrases
ers, bosses, and employees also recognize empty words. Protect
the power of your words—ifyou don’t mean it, don’t say it!
You train other adults the same way parents train children.
Everyone shows up to Roger’s meetings on time because
when he says,
The meeting starts at 9:00 a.m.it does!
People get their typing to Bill on time because when Bill
says,
I need this by 10:00 a.m. to get it out today.they know that if they get it to him by 10:30 a.m., they are tak-
ing their chances of having to wait until tomorrow.
If Mary says,
I’ll call you at 2:00 p.m.Victoria waits near the phone at 2:00 p.m. because she knows
the call will come.
The next time you promise a customer that it will be done
in an hour, have it done in an hour. If you aren’t certain you
can get it done by then, say,
I’ll get it to you in two hours.The next time your boss wants you to finish an impossible
workload by quitting time, assess if you can achieve it with qual-
ity, and if not, say,