I believe innately we all do our best. We work with the tools available to us at the moment. With that in mind, a lot of us do let one person down a lot..look in the mirror. Yes that is the person. We do try. Yet often we fall short of the commitments we have promised ourselves..
Here are some examples (from my own life). I am going to lose 20 lbs., this month, this is my last cigarette--for sure, I am going to exercise every morning from now on, no more sweets, etc.
There is a common theme is all these affirmations. They expect a lot, some were 100% or nothing. So what did I do, I FAILED! I let myself down. Over and over again.
I had the best of intentions, yet most of the time I FAILED. This was recorded by my ego, so the next time I tried something I always heard “Sure you said that before, and look what happened”. And I knew the voice was right.
Until, I discovered a trick. I started only committing to projects I knew I could do, and would do, no more. And you know what, I succeeded every time! My life changed! I felt so good. And, I was fulfilling my dreams.
Example: I wanted to get the hardwood floors redone in my house. Instead of committing to getting it done (I had been thinking about this for a year already!) I made a commitment to call some professionals and get a phone estimate within one week. Well, not only did I call and get the phone estimate, I had set up an appointment for someone to come to my home to examine the floors. I had set a goal and not only did I attain it, I was a super achiever.
I really got it. I now set small and attainable goals and I always succeed. Of course there is an option to achieve more, but that is now an option. (Another upside, less stress.)
I now “keep my word” to myself. NO more sense of guilt or failure. And it was so simple. In fact I overlooked it for years opting to “struggle”, and try so hard. 

***By setting small attainable goals the hardwood floors were refinished in one month

 © 2005  Mary Kay Buttery 

A goal properly set is halfway reached. “Zig Ziglar” .