I must be committed to this silly blog. Because here I sit. Here I clack these keys. Here I make a an idea materialize onto the big 30″ blank white screen in front of me.
Sometimes I think I should be ‘committed’, for the things I type out and reveal and share to the publicly accessible world wide interweb.
Truly it takes more than these few moments of writing, crammed into the last hour and a half before, I must move on to bigger commitments for the day. As I go about my normal life (ha!) I think about what the blog for the week will be. I probably go through several concepts, forgetting most of them. I play with sentences in these little daydreams. I feel the itch, or the burn or the twinkle or the calm of an expression, and wonder if it will fit well into the context of these pair-a-giraffes on my blog.
Why do I do that all week long? Why spend this time right now, doing this thing called blogging? I don’t know. Really. I don’t.
BUT, I do know this.
I am committed to it!
I am committed to this thing because I’m doing it right now. That is the test of commitment: Am I doing it right now? The funny thing is, that when I am committed to something, I am moving everything else around for it. I am prioritizing it as numero uno. I am not making excuses or putting it off, I’m just simply doing the required action it takes right now to make it happen. Like typing on this old grimy keyboard, on a too cluttered desktop, wondering how I’ll finish it up, but still typing along anyway.
Now. Funny thing is that a man from Piper, Kansas taught me these simple but profound truths about commitment a couple years ago. Dusan Djukich, worked with me by phone on several occasions and would make statements about commitment that seemed too bold and black/white to really fit into my ‘real-world’ life.
But he was so right. I am just living it now. Involved daily with the workload of the restaurant, the stack of art jobs piling up at Front Row Sports, and the little bit of extra time I have to be a husband and friend to my wife, these truths about commitment are playing out for real, each and every day. What I am doing, is what is getting done. What I am doing, is what I am committed to. What I am not doing, I am not committed to… but these are just my own versions of ideas planted by Dusan. I do want to share with you some of his, and direct you to find out more in his book or his website.
Truly to Me, Aaron Nichols, you are noticing commitment levels right now. And for the first time in maybe forever, you are okay with saying ‘no’ to things you are not committed to. Bravo, my friend. This could be a significant step forward in development for you. And, to be fair, it was more than just Dusan who helped plant these seeds 🙂 Melissa, Megan, and Steve showed me this over and over again too 🙂
(See, there are only a couple concepts I use to write these posts. One is ‘what would I say if I wasn’t afraid?’, the other is ‘I’ll write a note to myself’, and this is one of those)
I don’t need to give you more of my examples, I’ll just share Dusan’s. If they don’t hit home with you today, that’s fine. It didn’t strike me as truth until the seed had been planted and germinated for awhile. Now, in the many tasks and communications it takes to help this restaurant and our lives run, It is clearer now than ever, that Commitment is the keyword, showing me how, I’m showing up, everyday in this little ole life o’ mine.
Sincerely,
Aaron Nichols
PS: This is a partial version of a document written by Dusan Djukich, all ownership belongs to him. THANKS DUSAN!!!
COMMITMENT
COMMITMENT = THAT WHICH IS DEMONSTRATED IN RESULTS.
COMMITMENT IS SIMPLY DOING “WHAT’S REQUIRED” TO GET THE RESULT YOU INTEND.
A POWERFUL DECLARATION WHICH “ALTERS” BEHAVIOR.
A commitment is a particular type of declaration by which you move yourself forth in the world. It is a move that announces to the world what it is you intend to accomplish. What a commitment looks like is that you alter yourself and your actions to match “what is required” to get the intended result that you are after.
Action begins when you make the declaration, “I am committed to….”
What you are committed to reveals what you have produced or have failed to produce.
A COMMITMENT IS A DECLARATION THAT YOU SPEAK INTO EXISTENCE THAT ALTERS BEHAVIOR AND PRODUCES RESULTS.
Why you don’t have what you say you want is normally due to your attachment to looking good, being right and playing it safe.
A commitment is not a product of the mind (obviously). A real commitment is a powerful declaration that functions to alter behavior.
You can be committed to things that both empower and disempower you.
We are living in a new world and in this new world, performance is what matters.
Commitment = is demonstrated in “doing what’s required” to get the results you intend.
Many people fail to see the DISTINCTION between doing everything you know to get the desired outcome and “doing what’s required.”
Failing to make a commitment will dissipate your energies rather than focusing them.
True commitment is nothing less than 100%.
Commitment isn’t about how much time you spend doing things – it’s a line you cross with yourself.
The question to consider is not “Am I committed?” It is “What am I committed to?” There is no such thing as a life without commitment. You are already living a host of commitments, whether or not you are aware of it.
Commitment begins with the linguistic move of declaration, but it doesn’t stop there. It must also live in the realm of action.
Commitment means doing whatever it takes to achieve your outcome, not just what you know how to do, but whatever it takes.
Commitment occurs the moment you shut all of your back doors and devote your entire being to whatever it is that you have committed to.
If you are 90% committed, then the remaining 10% serves as a breeding ground for excuses and for non-performance.
There is an all-or-nothing nature of commitment.
What matters is that you drive yourself to be aware of where in your life you have just been “going through the motions” and confronting if you are really committed to doing something about the items in those areas of your life. Also you must define the “necessary required actions” to be engaged and the timelines for completion.
Commitment is the only thing that separates you from your intended results.