When you fail, it's best to present your profile rather than a front view

Hey, joe, no one has a clue what the heck you're talking about.

But give us half a chance, what?

OK.

From time to time people say they're going to do things but then fail to do them.

One way of dealing with said failure is to inform the party whom you've failed of your failure, apologize, and make a new promise.

Which, if unable to be fulfilled, is then followed by yet another promise, ad infinitum.

Having just received the fourth in a series of weekly apologies for something that has yet to happen, I must say that it's getting annoying.

Much better never to have said anything at all, just deliver the goods whenever possible and perhaps — perhaps — only then apologize for the delay.

Because each of those weekly excuses has only reinforced my initial sense of the other party's incompetence by reminding me over and over of their failure to do what they said they would.

Though you may feel terrible about your failure, the other person probably isn't focusing on it if they're even thinking about it at all — so why remind them?

It's sort of like the old saying, "Keep your mouth shut. If you do, people might think you're stupid. But when you open it, they'll know."