“The difference between interest and commitment, is when you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results.” Kenneth Blanchard
Hello. My friends,
We in the Codlin household are celebrating the completion of our beautiful kitchen. Isn’t it the greatest feeling ever to create something? Our kitchen space wasn’t working for us and needed updating. We gutted the old kitchen and created a plan of what we wanted and how we wanted the new kitchen to look and feel. It has taken a few detours and pit-stops to get here. That didn’t stop us. I love it, everything is shiny and new, works well and came in within our budget.
It builds the confidence in yourself that you can make a plan and keep working towards achieving it, no matter what may happen around you, you are committed to seeing your project through to completion. I love, love, love the feeling of a project completed.
That brings me to this weeks topic, commitment.
Scary word that. Commitment. What does the word commitment raise in your mind? What pictures do you see that depicts commitment? Do you think of a ball and chain, being dragged around slowing you down? Kind of like the jokes (just kidding, but not really) of marriage. Does commitment make you think of missing out, being deprived, or giving up?
What if I were to tell you that commitment is the golden road to success and achievement? Would you scoff at me? Laugh me out of town, so to speak.
When you make the choice not to commit to something you know you should be committed to how do you feel? How do you show up? Are you enthusiastic and rearing to go? No! Usually when you make a half-hearted decision to have a go at doing something, you leave the back door open, or ajar so you can make a hasty retreat, when the going gets tough. How often do you hear people say, “I tried that and it didn’t work.” and then give you a string of excuses wrapped up as reasons for not giving it their whole heart until it was done.
I’m offering you a different way of viewing commitment. Commitment is making the choice to go all in, holding nothing back, to do, have or be what it is you want?
Commitment changes the way you view the road blocks, they become challenges to surmount, they become opportunities for you to grow, to learn new skills, to find out more about who you are and what makes you tick.
Commitment to your self, brings out your true and authentic self. Your opinion of your self grows in a healthy way. You learn that there is so much more to you. As a bonus those around you also know you are on a mission and either get on board to help you, or move aside. When you are committed to yourself and your goal, plan or project, the negative opinions of others just don’t have anywhere to roost, and slide off. You are on a mission, you choose to be committed to yourself first.
Lets take weight loss as an example. This is an area of my life I am overcoming. I tend to be an emotional, addictive over-eater. I have made the commitment to myself to regain my slender healthy body. To honour this commitment to myself I have to let go of all the “diet” information I have “learned and absorbed” over my lifetime of being on a “diet’. The commitment to become my true slender self permanently isn’t a wish, it’s not a, “Oh, I think I’ll try to lose weight.” I have in the past used all the excuses that anyone who has ever tried losing weight and failed has used. If I’m honest they still pop up everyday, the difference is I have the tools to listen to them, to accept them and see what they are trying to teach me. My commitment to myself is to gain my power over my emotions back. You see I have given my power away to food. I have let food control my life. The difference this time is the commitment I have made to myself to slim down by loving myself, by being kind and gentle to myself. No internal beat ups allowed. As I make better food choices, and examine why I had the need to eat an entire packet of biscuits, sort out the emotional stuff in behind the eating, I am finding reducing my body size is easy. For me this journey may take years, however long it takes I’m committed to freeing myself from the bondage of eating for emotion and addiction, and doing all the necessary unpleasant, undercover and uncomfortable discoveries to make my best life mine for always. For me to be someone I’ve never been, I have to become someone who does the things I’ve never done before.
So. I’m wanting you, today, to have a think about what you are committed to. What do you want to get out of your life that you are not currently getting? Are you like me and want a slimmer and more healthful body? Or do you want to earn more money? Have more elegance in your life, be the person who carries yourself with the confidence and assurance that what ever comes your way you can handle it? Make a commitment, a full on no holds barred commitment to go all in. To learn and become the person you need to be.
TO BECOME SOMEONE YOU’VE NEVER BEEN, YOU HAVE TO BE, AND DO THINGS YOU’VE NEVER BEEN OR DONE BEFORE. You learn new ways of thinking and behaving, You learn new skills, you decide what you want in your life and what you don’t want. You put up the safety barriers around your life, to keep-out the things you don’t want and to build safety and security around what you do want, you do the tiny daily habits that grow you and change you into the person you want to be.
Commitment is your friend, it helps you to get where you want to go. Commitment guides you around the road blocks and unexpected events that will come up. Commitment helps you make the decisions that lead you to where you want to be. Commitment gives your brain room to think and create. Commitment removes all the side issues, the fluff that distracts. Commitment gives you purpose, focus and drive.
I encourage you to make a decision, a small decision that you can commit to no matter what. Tidy the spare room, go for a jog every day, do 50 sit ups, save ten dollars every week into a separate account for investing later as it grows, get up 5 mins earlier every morning to plan your day ahead of time. Commit to the one thing that will make your life better today. You know what it is. Trust yourself, and show up for yourself.
Until next time, make a commitment to yourself, to be your best, most aligned and authentic self.
Linda Codlin