Broken trust gets rebuilt one kept promise at a time. There’s no shortcut and no bulk discount.

Trust is made of a track record, so it can only be rebuilt at the speed records accumulate. No apology, however sincere, substitutes for a sequence of small promises kept, because what got damaged was the other person’s ability to predict you. Large gestures feel like payment and do not register as evidence.

If you are repairing something, make the next promise small enough that you are certain to keep it, then keep it exactly. Do that several times before asking for anything back. Let them decide when it is rebuilt rather than telling them it ought to be by now.