Commitment means a lot of things. Mindset. Decision on a course of action. Willing to be held accountable. To be obligated.
Or said another way… can we be accountable to something if we have not truly committed.
Commitment is the first step.
Recently, I attended an event at the National Speaker Association, where I heard Steven Iwersen present to a group of speakers. He showed us a Powerpoint slide that had three concentric circles. The outer circle was the Crowd. The middle circle was the Curious. The inner (and smailler) circle was the Committed.
As he spoke about “people”, he provoked my thinking as to those that I encounter on a daily basis as friends or clients. Some are the Crowd; some are the Committed. Either spot is fine.
The key message here is that if you are part of Inner Circle, you have made the decision to be committed. Your mind is made up. You expect results due to that commitment. You are willing to go the extra mile, to run the laps, to go above and beyond. You have the clear picture of what commitment looks like. You execute consistently and flawlessly.
Two examples of commitment (or the lack of it)
An example of this is a client of mine who recently launched her radio show. She knew what she wanted for her personal and business brand. She knew who her target audience was for her specialized message. She knew the guests she wanted to book on the show. She took consistent action every week that we met. She was fully committed to her actions and success. She met her deadlines and had a successful launch.
A different example is a client of mine in the retail business who wants to improve the marketing efforts of her business. She does not know the nuts and bolts of how to do marketing. She does not have time or the interest to learn. She does not have the money right now to pay someone. Her business is not growing as a result of lackluster marketing efforts. She wishes it were different. Wishing won’t make it happen. Action will.
Consistent commitment makes a difference
Starting and stopping your actions will impact results in an unfavorable way. Why? Loss of momentum. Once you begin a series of actions, the momentum will begin to build. Be accountable to the momentum – to keep it going. It is far easier to keep the momentum going than to start all over again with a lot of effort, even if the action steps are small.
Accountability and commitment go hand in hand.
Think about how committed you really are in terms of time and resources spent on your top 3 projects. If you need to “amp up” your commitment level this week, do so. Stand back and watch what happens. You will be amazed. Are you in the Inner Circle that represents Committed?
