“Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality. It is making the time when there is none. Coming through time after time after time, year after year after year. Commitment is the stuff character is made of; the power to change the face of things.” - Dr. Martin Luther King
Commitment is what keeps you going when you hit adversity. Are you prepared to summon the extraordinary commitment it takes to accomplish your goals and to realize your dreams? Are you prepared to bounce back when adversity strikes? Extraordinary leaders become extraordinary because of their extraordinary commitment and persistence regardless of the circumstances!
Many people say they want to live the extraordinary life but fail to do so. Why? Often, it's because they are short on persistence and short on commitment. When the first (or second, or third, or fourth) obstacle comes along, they give up. What they don’t realize is these obstacles – the apparent lack of resources, the skeptical or dismissive voices of other people, the sudden changes in the larger economy, or any other challenge you care to name – are not “stop signs,” they areindications of human character.
The act of responding to obstacles with more commitment, as opposed to lesscommitment and to expand commitment in the face of opposition, is evidence of a future success.
Dr. Martin Luther King once said “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
The central reality of human experience is “failure.” The real question is not whether we will fail, but how we will respond to “failure.” Failing is actually nothing more than a test of our personal commitment to stick it out and persist to the finish line. It’s better to think of this as “the failure test” than as some divine sign we should not pursue our goals after all. Some of us will pass the failure test – others will not.
The only people who never “fail” are those who never try anything new! For the rest of us, the question is … what happens AFTER “failure”?
One secret to staying committed to your dream(s) is to spend considerable time thinking about it with a positive expectation. A particularly effective way to do this is to create a vision board – something you can see every day that incorporates vivid pictures of all the benefits you will receive from pursuing your dream. In addition, you should create a long written list of reasons to take actionon your mission in life, and review those reasons regularly.
You must create commitment daily, and take action daily, if you wish to turn your dream into reality. You need to do something each and every day in support of your goal, regardless of how big or little what you are doing appears to you to be right now. If your goal is to write the next New York Times Best Seller, write a little bit of it each and every day, no matter what! Your motive will strengthen your actions in support of your goal and your actions will in turn strengthen your motivation.
Your ability to stay committed to your dreams requires daily motivation. Daily motivation is simply the act of having an idea or “motive” consistently driving you to take “action”!
What if you decided NEVER TO QUIT on your plans, dreams and goals, and to make that message part of your personal identity? Where could you go in the world if you made a personal commitment to make NEVER QUIT your motivating message whenever you hit an obstacle? Where would you be in your life one year from now if you made a habit of repeating that message to yourself, out loud, at least one hundred times, each and every day?
Make NEVER QUIT your motivating message – the message you repeat to yourself whenever you veer off course.