Be More Reliable With These Simple Habits

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Reliability is the most important trait in a friend to me. It used to be a good sense of humor. Once it was ambition. Creativity used to be huge for me. But the older I got the more I realized that, while those traits are nice, they count for absolutely nothing if the person isn’t reliable. What good is a hilarious friend who stands you up at brunch because she forgot to set her morning alarm? How inspiring can your creative friend be if she only drops in for 15 minutes of your dinner party because she triple booked herself that night? Let’s not mention how disrespectful it is of your own time when someone is unreliable. I don’t care how charming or lovely someone is these days: if I can’t count on them to do the things they say they’ll do, I’d rather not make room for them in my life. If you want to be a more reliable person, developing these habits can instantly help.

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Make concrete plans

Don’t say, “Let’s get together some time next month.” Don’t say “We will do it sometime in the afternoon—we can talk more about it the day of.” Pick a day, and pick a time.