Commitment Implies Action. And Determination.

Determination is a Core Component of Commitment

Translating your intentions into choices and then moving your choices into action requires the power of commitment.

You can think of commitment as a contract between your spiritual side ─ the part of you that wants to grow and develop ─ with your mind and body. Your mind and body have to do the work to achieve the goals of your spiritual side (which explains everyone's conflict between having a desire for change and often lacking the commitment to change). You will feel the decisions of your spiritual side internally, in your heart and gut. Only you can decide who will win the battle between your heart and gut on one side, and your body and mind on the other.

When you make a firm commitment you dedicate yourself to a course of action in pursuit of your goals and desires, hopefully resulting in an expansion of your well being, self satisfaction and overall happiness.

You have to make a decision to act and then make a commitment to act. As Bertrand Russell wrote, "Nothing is so exhausting as indecision."

Commitment implies action. When you make a commitment to others, this pledge usually propels you to follow through and do what you promised. The same should be even truer for a commitment you make to yourself.

Andre Malraux, the French author, adventurer and statesman, is definitely on the mark with his comment that, "Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to be on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk ─ and to act."

How do you obtain the commitment to act? It comes from within, from the burning desire deep within yourself that produces a spark in you saying "I have to achieve this" or "I must accomplish this."

There is a huge difference between a "must have" or a "must do" and a "want." There are likely many things you want to do, but only a handful of things that grasp the inner core of your soul and your self-consciousness to produce a must do.

The things that you willingly practice in order to hone your skills and talents will usually fall into the must do category. Sometimes this willingness to practice will come naturally, through an internal flame of motivation. At other times, however, you will need to coerce yourself into action.

But, as Harry S Truman said, "In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves ─ self-discipline with all of them came first."

Former baseball manager Tommy Lasorda noted that, "The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man's determination." Determination, of course, is a core component of commitment. 

This article is excerpted from the best-selling book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available in paperback and Kindle formats at Amazon. 

Commitment Means Commitment To Action

Learn Commitment From Michael Jordan 

One of the things that made Michael Jordan such a fierce competitor is evident from one of his most famous quotes: "I can accept failure, but I cannot accept not trying."

Part of what Jordan is talking about in that quote is having a commitment to commitment ─ the commitment to try, to act, to overcome hurdles and blips encountered on the way, to go after your goals and dreams no matter what.

Commitment is what transforms dreams, hopes, goals, and desires into reality.

Here's another quote from Jordan about commitment: "I have always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come. I don't do things half-heartedly because I know if I do, then I can expect half-hearted results."

This level of commitment means doing the daily things you need to do to accomplish your goals and bring your dreams to reality, even when you do not feel like it (perhaps especially when you don't feel like it).

The key is to keep your goals in mind and understand that your daily activities are a means to an end. 

For instance, if your goal is to build your upper body strength, you will need to lift weights three times a week. Now, lifting weights three times a week is not your goal (building your upper body strength is), but merely the steps required to achieve your goal. So on days you feel too tired to lift weights, you have to tell yourself "in order to achieve my goal I must do my weights workout" and "I am not too tired to pursue my goals." That is what Jordan means about putting in whole-hearted work.

Commitment requires a commitment to action. You cannot become a howling success merely by howling!

A New Year is upon us. Make a commitment to being committed and 2016 will be a year you long remember. 

This article is excerpted from the book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available in paperback and Kindle formats at Amazon.