Commitment

Commitment

The dictionary defines commitment as a decisive choice that involves a definite course of action. In life commitment is a proactive approach in which you promise a result and then conform your actions to that result. The commitment is a promise to yourself.

The promise creates a discrepancy in your mind. This discrepancy acts as a source of friction—a catalyst—because once you are committed, your mind sees the gap between where you are now and where you want to be in the future. The mind wants to close the gap between now, where you are and the future state, where you want to be.

The gap acts as a catalyst that propels you, motivates you, to bring that vision of your future state in alignment with your reality.  The gap is filled with a series of actions and efforts, which you create and establish, and lead you forward toward your objective.

Commitment is about focusing your energy on your daily efforts in order in order to be continuously striving for the attainment of that objective, and not drifting off course, back to what was once “normal” and “routine.” You are now steering your ship, through your efforts. Your efforts are those actions you have decided to take, that are in front you, and by taking these actions, you avoid drifting back to what was “comfortable” and “habitual.”

Commitment is about deciding. Your decision is your selection, your choice, and then committing to the effort in front of you. Commitment is not simply about psyching yourself up with daily doses of affirmations and positive thinking and working even harder. Commitment is about a willingness to review what you have been doing, what is not working, looking at where you want to go, and understanding that these two things, self-defeating actions coupled with no direction, are not what you want in your life any longer.

It means understanding the ramifications of just “going along,” like the tide, habitual, mindless, wasted energy, is no longer for you. You have committed to take a different course, a course of action aimed at something you prefer to become, and then by being that vision in your day-to-day activities.

You can start by establishing a clear foundation for your objective by asking yourself and answering the following questions:

• Where do I want to be in five years? Ten years? (It can be about money earned, position, books written, clients, weight, college degrees, or even a way of acting)
• When do I want to be there? (time, date, and a series of mini-objectives)
• What are the actions and efforts I am going to have to take? And which ones can I breakdown to smaller activities and incorporate into my daily and even hourly routine?
• What are the limiting beliefs and habits that I need to give up? (What things did my mother or father or others plant in my head that are based in falsehoods, which are holding me back? What things have others planted that I accepted are true that are not based in reality?)
• In numbers—How much do you need to accomplish your objective? (Can you convert your objectives into something you can count/measure?)
• In numbers—How much do you need to accomplish daily in order to achieve your vision?
• What things do you need to pay attention to that will derail your efforts (other people telling you that you can’t or yourself—old habitual negative voices telling you that you can’t)?
• What things do you need to pay attention to that will strengthen your resolve?
• What new picture can you form in your mind of what success looks like that you can clearly establish and carry around with you from this day forward and every day in your present moment?
• What new feeling can you form in your body, which resonates your resolve and commitment, knowing you are now the new person committed to this new vision you have for yourself?
• What is the new pleasant, encouraging voice inside your head whispering to you about your resolve and commitment?

Take action. Write out your answers to the questions above on paper. Learn to commitment and recommit to your vision on a daily, if not hourly basis, and to take daily and hourly actions and efforts that are in alignment with your future vision.

Feel the tension, the discomfort of where you are now and where you want to be, and act in a manner in alignment with your future positive state. How would the person I want to be act and behave and think? Then act, behave, and think in that same manner. Act and be at that new higher level today, now.

The gap between where you are and where you want to be doesn’t have to extraordinary, but it does have to be a stretch. It has to create enough creative tension inside your mind and body to propel you to want to close the gap. The creative tension helps you focus on the actions, the efforts you have to take. Remember, climbing Mount Everest is accomplished by starting with small efforts even before you land in Tibet. And even then, each step you take, is a step closer to the summit. It’s the effort, the steps, which allow you to attain your ultimate vision.

Without the efforts and seemingly mundane actions, that causes negative stress instead of creative tension. The important thing is to take action. Do something every day toward your vision. Commitment to taking the action, making action, do the one thing. Tomorrow make it two things. And the tomorrow after, commit to doing three. But every day, take at least one action. Focus your mind on the effort of doing that one thing and not focus your energies on the vision. The vision is the guide—the beacon. Your actions, the focus on the effort of those actions is where your resolve needs to be.

Hold your vision in front of you, look glance up at the peak of your Mount Everest every so often to make sure you are on track, but focus on each step you take and foot placement you make.

Your vision needs to be a source of inspiration, not punishment. Your daily actions and effort should be something achievable and not grueling or gruesome. It helps to write out your commitments daily and write out the actions you need to take before you start your day.

Watch and see if this little routine of writing by hand, onto a piece of paper, doesn’t provide a source of inspiration and result in a source of positive energy for you.