You’ve been betrayed by people you trusted and it has shaken you to the core. Time and time again you’ve opened yourself to the risk of trusting, only to be disappointed repeatedly. You’re hurt and bruised; mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and maybe even physically. You question if trust is worth it.

Trust pervades nearly every aspect of our daily lives. It is fundamentally important in the healthy functioning of all of our relationships with others. It is even tied to our wealth: in a Scientific American article, Dr. Paul J Zak, a neuroeconomist at Claremont Graduate University, discovered that trust is among the strongest known predictors of a country’s wealth – nations with low levels tend to be poor. According to Dr. Zak, societies with low levels of trust are poor because the inhabitants undertake too few of the long-term investments that create jobs and raise incomes.

Trust is power. It’s the power to inspire and influence. It’s the glue that bonds us to each other, that strengthens relationships and turns threads of connections into steel cables. Like four-year olds trusting that there will be a second marshmallow, can your people trust that your word is your bond?

For the last 14 years I have been working with First Nations of Canada holding positions in Middle Management, serving and working with National, Regional an Community leadership. My experience with the First Nations here in Manitoba, Canada holds some valuable lessons on how to get and maintain trust.

1. Become Trustworthy. Creator created us a His beings to seek out trust- worthy people. But the first step is to become trustworthy ourselves, and if one invest in becoming a person others can trust people whom you can trust will be attracted to you.

2. Keep Your Promises. Keep small because others will weigh your reliability on the big things from how you handle the little ones, even if they are not consciously aware of it.

3. Keep Promises to Yourself.Keeping promises to yourself is closely correlated with willpower and self-control, and these virtues are essential to being trustworthy — especially when the chips are down. Remember, willpower is like any other muscle.

4. Under Commit and Over Deliver. Make sure that you only make promises that you know you can keep. We overcommit because we want people to love and respect us, yet the quickest way to lose love and respect is to fail to keep our promises.