Are you INTERESTED or are you COMMITTED?
By answering this simple question you’ll get to know if you will break through and achieve your goal.
Or if, on the contrary, you’ll merely dream about it without making it come true.
No matter whether your goal is: financial, spiritual, educational, or about your relationships, your personal development, or your health, it all comes down to how you answer the above question.
Depending on how you answer it, your future will change.
“There is a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in something, you do it only when it's convenient. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results”. - Ken Blanchard
Let me clarify the difference between being interested and being committed.
BEING INTERESTED
- When we are interested in doing something we allow limiting beliefs to get in the way.
We come up with countless excuses - such as not having enough time, money, education, confidence, or such as having family commitments, bills to pay, etc - for which we cannot and won't achieve our goals.
We blame external circumstances for how unfortunate we are, and how “impossible” accomplishing our goal is for us, thus, we behave like victims.
We give up when the first obstacle comes up, or we don’t even start the journey of pursuing our goal.
How sad! Considering our time is limited and we only live once.
When we are merely interested, we allow our emotions to drive our actions, which often means we do what feels comfortable and safe.
Yet, in our comfort zone, there’s no room for improvement.
Just think for a moment: Wouldn't it be better to use the excuses that prevent us from living the life we want as the reason for success?
Let me clarify what I mean through an example that has just popped into my mind.
Let’s say that you are fed up with just making ends meet, and you would like to start your own online business to create more freedom for yourself and your loved ones.
However, you may come up with the excuse - “If I start my own business I’ll have less time for myself and my family”.
That’s where you should switch - the excuse must become the driving force, the reason why you should succeed
Your inner dialogue would be something along the lines of:
"I must build my own business so eventually, I'll become financially independent and I'll be able to devote more time to myself and the people I love".
Does it make sense?
Having said that, whatever goal you are pursuing is not going to be a walk in the park, your success is not going to be an overnight event.
You must be ready to pay the price!
In other words, be ready to get uncomfortable, because there’s no easy way to get the life you want and become a better version of yourself.
That’s why being interested is not enough and we must be committed.
BEING COMMITTED
- When we are committed to achieving our goal, we want it so badly that we take full responsibility for our results.
We don’t let anything stand in our way, not even our worst enemy, i.e. the little voice in our head that tells us to play safe, to play defense.
We ignore it.
You know what I mean, don’t you? The disempowering mental chatter goes like this:
“I cannot do that, I’m not good enough, I never achieve what I want in life...”
On the contrary, we tell ourselves positive and empowering words:
"I am capable of everything, I am someone who achieves their goals, I am fully responsible for what my life looks like, etc".
We are aware of the POWER of WORDS and HOW they can SHAPE our lives.
When we are committed, we BURN THE SHIPS, we don’t have any other plans except for PLAN A, which is to succeed.
As I wrote in one of my previous posts, having a PLAN B is just an excuse to justify ourselves for giving up on our dreams.
When we are committed to our goal, we are ready to go all-in, to do whatever it takes and go the extra mile.
No matter how many times we may fall and hit rock bottom, we’ll find the strength to stand up and keep moving forward.
Obstacles and failures in effect don’t take us out of the “game” - we accept them - they simply are a learning opportunity to get better and stronger.
We believe in the journey we have embarked on, and we enjoy it.
We are aware that it all comes down to progression, taking one step every single day to get closer to our destination.
When we are committed, we become self-disciplined, and we take consistent actions.
If you have not read yet - WHY SELF-DISCIPLINE IS IMPORTANT TO YOUR SUCCESS - I advise you to, because it’ll give you valuable tips to build lasting and solid self-discipline.
In turn, you'll take massive action and you'll be more likely to achieve your goals.
Remember: action creates more action, likewise inaction creates more inaction.
“Inaction creates nothing. Action creates success”. - Stephen Richards
When we take daily action, the snowball effect just takes over, we get momentum, we become unstoppable, and ultimately we break through.
Only when we are committed will we be resourceful, ready to learn, and master new skills to figure out what it takes to get the distance and get to our destination.
Only when we are committed will we be open to embracing new opportunities, thinking outside the box, and acting differently than the crowd.
Actions such as MEDITATING, JOURNALING, VISUALIZING, WRITING AND READING OUR GOALS, and many more, will be our routine.
Eventually, by being committed, we’ll become people who achieve their goals instead of people who believe goals miraculously materialize by themselves.
The former people are committed, the latter are merely interested.
Now that we have seen that being interested is not enough, how can we actually set ourselves up for being committed?
- Firstly we must draw upon our WHY, which must be the most powerful driving force.
If our WHY is strong enough, the HOW will manifest itself.
In other words, we’ll figure out how to hit our target.
When we have a strong WHY giving up is not a possibility.
Our WHY is the internal motivation to act, what launches us out of bed in the morning.
It’s what fuels us when the shit hits the fan, and we feel overwhelmed, and like quitting.
How can we make sure we have a powerful WHY, the one that will drive us out of the darkest moments we all experience during the pursuit of our goals?
We can involve others, rather than just focus on ourselves.
Let me clarify what I mean by telling you my personal example:
When I started pursuing my goal - that is becoming a digital entrepreneur and a mindset coach - my WHY was to be able to positively impact the lives of as many people as possible
What's more, the freedom to work from everywhere in the world and spend lots of time with the people I love.
If I had been driven just by the desire to make more money probably you wouldn't be reading this post now.
I really believe that when we set a goal, and when the reason why we must succeed involves other people we become committed.
If you realize your WHY is not strong enough, that’s fine, don’t worry, you can change it with a more powerful one by including your parents, your children, your spouse, your community, or someone else.
- Secondly, we must have some accountability partners, someone who holds us accountable to show up for ourselves every day.
Let’s make a covenant with them; for instance: each time we don’t do what we are supposed to do to get closer to our goal, let’s undertake to give them 100 $.
Don’t you think it’s going to keep you accountable? If not, just set a higher budget 🙂
If we find someone who has already walked the path we are on, it’s even better, because we can get valuable feedback that reinforces our commitment, and shortens the time needed to get where we want to go.
A mentor, a coach is a game-changer when it comes to being committed and achieving our goals.
Now that we have dived into this big difference in attitudes and mindsets I’ll ask you once more:
are you interested in achieving your goal or are you committed to it?
Looking forward to hearing what your choice is.
If this post has given you any value, and you know someone who is stuck in their life and needs a toss, you may consider sharing it with them.
It would mean the world to me.
If my posts can inspire and light up even one single person, they would accomplish their purpose and I would feel really pleased and fulfilled.
What’s more, you’ll have done good to someone and you’ll have woken them up. You rock!
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Absolutely agree and understand this completely.
Being committed things start to unfold, you start having a plan of action and once you start to take action, however small things start to get moving, and you take the next step and the next step closer to your goals.
This post is a great reminder to take action, to be 100 percent committed to reach your goals.
Thank you Christian, appreciate you x
Christine you said something really true, as long as you take small action over and over again you get momentum and eventually you get to your destination.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts:)
When you are interested in something and it doesn’t come out the way you expected you will easily be interested in something else tomorrow. When you are committed to something and it doesn’t come out the way you want it you change the approach and still follow would you set out to do.
Good thoughts, thank you Christian.
Very well said Mikolaj!! Where you are committed to something and it doesn’t come the way you expect it, it doesn’t compromised the ultimate outcome, i.e. achieving your goal whatever it may be.
When you are really committed to something you always find out how to get where you want to go no matter how many obstacles come your way. You become unstoppable!
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts!