Commitment is one of the scariest and most difficult challenges we face in our lives.
The very definition seems intimidating as the dictionary tells us commitment is “an obligation or promise that restricts one’s freedom of action.”
Well, who the hell wants that!?
I think the problem with commitment is that it feels so permanent and final. It feels like there’s no escape and no turning back once you’ve made a decision.
After all, none of us know what the right decisions will be? We can only attempt to weigh our options, assess the situation, and choose and then hope to god we make the right chose.
This terrifying balance between right and wrong is what leaves most of us stuck straddling the fence and holding on to our indecision like our life depended on it.
Unfortunately, it’s this very indecisive, apprehensive approach to life that will only cause us to under commit and in turn, drastically underachieve.
Half way measures lead to half-hearted results
“I don’t do things half heartedly. Because I know if I do, then I can expect half-hearted results.” – Micheal Jordan
Whether you’re proposing to your girlfriend or deciding on a new direction for your business, if you want things to work you can’t half commit.
But of course, it’s not always that simple. We love to make commitment complicated and let fear control our decisions.
Too afraid of what will happen if we chose the wrong course of action, we try to hedge our bets and half-heartedly follow both paths.
Unfortunately, it’s only a matter of time until this half effort leads to more problems as neither option gets the attention it deserves and both end up struggling.
Because of our fear to fully commit 100% to a single purpose we end up leading a half achieved life.
Facing your fears
Although we don’t like to admit it, the truth is most decisions are never truly final and our fear of commitment is completely irrational.
We may face fears of consequence, of judgment or of personal pain but trust me when I say that the pain of inaction, lost time, and having to live a lie are far greater than the fears we face.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said:
“…some great opportunity stands before you and calls upon you to stand for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And you refuse to do it because you are afraid.
…Well, you may go on and live until you are ninety, but you are just as dead at 38 as you would be at ninety.
And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.
Don’t live with fears, learn to face them on head-on.
If you simply ask yourself, what is the worst that could happen? The answer is often not nearly as bad as you may think. Most often your worst case scenario is that you’re back where you started so it is almost always worth taking the risk to commit.
At the end of the day, there is no such thing as a right decision, just the decision you make and the action you take to make it right moving forward.
Success comes to the decisive
“Decide. Commit. Succeed.” – Unknown
To truly be successful at anything you need to be willing to commit all of yourself to it.
Wayne Gretzky didn’t dabble in hockey, Chris Hadfield didn’t “sorta” want to become an astronaut.
Whatever goals you have, whatever hard decisions you face, if you can simply commit to a direction and without any reservation, invest all of yourself into them, you will not only discover the success you seek but also a happier, more fulfilling life.
I myself must now take this same commitment, as I venture out into my new year of challenges. Although it scares me to imagine the difficult and trying times that lay ahead, I know that the only path to success is to throw caution to the wind and commit myself 100%.
Follow my journey as I take on Scale My Life 2.0
