If you can’t keep a promise, renegotiate it before the deadline, not after.

A promise that is going to fail does not improve in the last hour. Telling somebody on Tuesday that Friday is not going to happen leaves them with three days to move things around, and the conversation is about a plan. Telling them on Friday leaves them nothing, and the conversation is about you.

Look at what you have agreed to this week and find the one you are quietly not going to manage. Say so today, with a new date you can actually hit. One early renegotiation costs less than the apology, and the apology fixes nothing.