Are You Truly Committed?

It’s easy for me to become fired up about a new idea and going out of my way to try and make it happen. This could be anything from undertaking a side hustle to make extra money, participating in a challenge to attain a certain goal, overturning a guilty feeling resulting from unbecoming or unwanted behavior, or any habit or circumstance I believe that needs to be changed in my life at a given period in time. Sadly, following through with the process becomes a bit of a challenge as soon as the initial enthusiasm starts to wear off. Sound familiar? I’m sure it does.

I have experienced that it is easy for me to jump on the commitment bandwagon when I’m faced with a desperate situation that makes me feel ashamed or frustrated. I have done something that I now regret. In a situation like this I easily promise myself that it’s not going to happen again. Will the promise hold?

Commitment is a pledge to follow through with a plan, process or action. It is staying on course to complete what you promise that you will do. But commitment is hard if the plan, action or promise lacks discipline. Without discipline the ability to commit becomes difficult.

The desire to change an unfavorable life situation is strongest at the onset of the problem or when the problem is discovered. It is important to note that the desire to change does not equate to commitment to change. Desire is spontaneous whereas commitment is planned and structured.

Distractions or the loss of focus is adversarial to commitment. We lose focus and lack commitment simply because we determine at some point along the way that something else is more important than what we have pledged to do. The longer we allow ourselves to remain in the state of distraction the further away we drift from commitment.

Here are 5 thoughts on how we can beat distractions and stay committed to what we deem as important in our lives:

1. Determine why getting rid of the issue is important to you – why do you want to deal with it
2. Consider the elements within your environment or surrounding that might cause distraction, name and plan to remove them
3. Set an initial time frame to test your commitment – 21, 30, 60, 90 days or more, whichever length of time works for you and your situation (if you stay on course during this time frame you are on track and may probably be ready to fully commit)
4. Track your progress and determine the impact of your commitment on resolving the issue
5. Identify a trusting, non-distracting, no drama person with whom you can share your story and progress. If possible, ask her/him to follow up on your progress another time

Committing to a process that can bring about change in our lives can be daunting. Distractions are everywhere. But it is possible to commit if we are clear about and fired up to get to the desired result, remove obstacles of distractions, trust ourselves with the process and keep our eyes on the outcome.