5:00am and the alarm clock goes off. The intention is for me to get up, jump into the shower and make my way to the gym.
5:10am I still lie in bed debating whether to go or not to go. The latter seems more desirable and the “reasons” why not to go seem very plausible. It is easy for me to find all the reasons why not to go- fatigue, soar muscles, rain and bad weather. The list is endless!
Eventually the “devil” wins and I find myself up and in the shower- making my way to the gym. Unhappy I get into the car and leave.
5:35am cruising to gym I am surprised to see so many people- young and old running down the street. At first it was strange to see so many people at the same time, but I concluded it was new year resolutions at play. I decided we can make this decision conclusive 3 months down the line- to see who stayed committed, who stayed the course.
This got me thinking… The reason so many of us do not see success or results in our lives is because we are not disciplined enough to stay committed- even when it’s hard.
We easily start a new year with goals of losing weight, but undermine the amount of work and discipline required to put in- early mornings, strict nutritional requirements and saying a lot of No’s to temptations.
We set ourselves up for promotions at work, but lack the emotional intelligence, skills or qualifications vital for the role we are interested in. We do not even bother to get an in depth understanding of how we can get this position. We “commit” to personal development- reading more books or studying further; but lose interest and spend our time hanging out with friends over drinks instead of doing assignments or just reading a chapter from a book.
How then can we be successful if we are not prepared to stay the course?
I am also a victim of this- where I decided to quit going to gym in September 2016 because I lacked commitment. Upon not seeing the results I wanted, I blamed everything and everyone for my failures, forgetting the excuses and lies I told myself when I was in fact too lazy to get up and do the work.
The reality is, commitment is hard and actually requires a lot of work. And we often undermine how big a sacrifice is required to achieve the goals we’ve set. Staying committed is a mental process where you need to remember what your aspirations are, why you started and how you want to finish. It will not be easy to say no to things that deter you from your goals.
It will not be easy letting go of your old habits. It will not be easy letting go of some friends to achieve your goal BUT the biggest challenge however is staying committed to see the sacrifices you’ve made materialize. And that is the best feeling ever. When all is said and done and you actually achieve THAT goal you’ve set- losing weight, reading more or getting that promotion or degree.
My question to you is how far a you willing to go to get what you want?
#BelieveYouCan #Commitment
