What Are You Committed To?

In a world obsessed with fame and fortune that is always showing us stories and images of overnight successes and quick wins, it’s easy to get distracted and find ourselves constantly reacting and striving. We try something, it doesn’t reap the reward we were looking for, so we abandon it and move to the next thing. We see it in all facets of our lives and work from ideas and dreams to relationships.

It’s good and healthy to remain open to new possibilities in a world that is rapidly changing, and we have to remain aware of the cost of shifting our focus. If we don’t have something to anchor to, we can float through life working toward someone else’s dream or idea of success, and we may miss an opportunity to do the work we were uniquely positioned and put on Earth to do. Some of the greatest inventors and influencers of all time spent most of their lives going against external forces, meeting resistance and “failure” each day but staying the course anyway. They were committed.

Commitment is tricky. If we get too hung up on a way of doing something or a particular outcome, we could miss the signs that we are on the wrong path…but if we don’t have enough commitment we could abandon great ideas, relationships, and dreams too early, before they have a real chance to come true. So how do we find that line?

This is where we often need to abandon logic and head knowledge, to lean on our heart and our intuition. Our head can talk us into staying the course or pursuing something when deep inside we know we are on the wrong path. Leaning on our intuition and trusting our gut when we meet external resistance can give us the courage to stay the course even when what we are thinking or doing doesn’t make sense to others.

For Christians, this way of living and knowing is aligning ourselves with the Holy Spirit. Inviting God into decision making, visioning, and dreaming. Using prayer as a way to connect to His wisdom, ways, and words to ensure we are aligned with Him in our daily efforts.

Making time for regular reflection, listening, praying, and deep thinking will elevate your life, leadership, and your work. Am I on the right path? Why am I here? These are the questions of the great thinkers of our time. Questions that get lost in the day-to-day noise but call to us from deep inside. Most of us shove them down and avoid them, but taking time for these and other questions help you anchor in why you are doing something, and give you the power and courage to stay the course even when it feels like things aren’t working out. It also gives you the courage to change direction when times are good because you know you need to proactively adjust to ensure a sustainable future.

Taking more time to root yourself will also ensure you enjoy the journey. Each day becomes a learning opportunity vs. an empty step toward a particular outcome. When you are firmly committed to your why, the what and how become less important. You start to see there is not just one path…life doesn’t just move up and to the right. Mistakes and failures become a beautiful part of learning and growing. Missed goals and unfulfilled opportunities become course corrections and blessings.

My commitment is to be more like Jesus with a specific focus on restoring love and hope. This is a lifelong commitment and one that has changed what and how I do things quite dramatically. I have goals for how I need to continue to grow myself, and I have goals for how I want to serve others. I can deliver on my commitment simply by showing up in a loving and hopeful way, and I can pursue delivering on my commitment by pursuing loving and hopeful relationships, taking on coaching, speaking, and workshop opportunities to restore love and hope at an individual, team, and organizational level, etc.

With a focus on your commitment, a whole world of possibilities opens up in terms of what you can do and how you can fulfill it. It can shift your entire life in a positive and impactful way.
So the question is, what are you committed to?