Honoring Your Commitments to Yourself

Commitment

Commitment has been a big topic for me over the last year. You see, I’m the kind of person who is eager and excited to have new experiences. I love to try and learn new things and to challenge myself in bold (and sometimes overwhelming) ways. I am always on the look out for how to grow, how to improve, and what I can do next.  

That means that I often bite off way more than I can chew. It stems from an innate belief that saying “no” too often may close off opportunities. Though as I’ve learned lately, the more things I say “no” to, the more things I can more confidently say “yes” to.   

And this is where commitment comes in. In the past I would eagerly sign up for a new program or start learning something new, only to find my enthusiasm starting to wane when things got difficult, repetitive, or boring. I didn’t remember WHY I was doing it in the first place, and simply didn’t want to do it anymore.    

It was easy to give up, to walk away. And so, I had a graveyard of half-started, but never finished projects and ideas. Things I began with a whole heart but could not seem to complete. I started to believe I was the kind of person who could not follow through on what I had started. Someone who would never be able to handle all of the things I took on.   

In short, I set myself up for failure.   

I took on too much, I couldn’t manage it all, and when it got to be overwhelming, I began to feel burned out. I didn’t know how to calibrate my energy, my time, or my enthusiasm. It’s something I still struggle with and often have to remind myself that it’s better to say “no” and give myself time to integrate what I’ve already done rather than trying to cram too much in.

What I've Learned 

I now know that when I am truly committed to something, when I put into words what it is I am committed to and why, I tend to stay the course all the way to the end. The missing link, for me, was true commitment to whatever I wanted to learn / do / see / grow / etc. I realized that so often I was just chasing after the next shiny thing, thinking that somehow that would be my quick fix, and when it wasn’t, I felt disappointed and lost steam. This was a quick recipe for making myself feel inadequate and incapable.   

I now know how important it is to truly understand the why behind what I do, beyond short-term productivity or achievement. I get to the bottom of how I want to feel at some future point and recognize how this particular undertaking will contribute to that. That way, even when I lose that initial boost of enthusiasm, my commitment to the end goal keeps me on course.   

Over the weekend, I made a big commitment to myself. I signed up to work with a world-class coach whose work I’ve been following for years. Someone who inspires me to not only be a better coach, but to show up more fully as myself, with all the intricacies that make me unique. This person helps me to believe that not only should I take my dreams seriously, but I should trust they are all achievable.    

It’s the largest investment I’ve made in myself to date, and it both scares and thrills me to know that I am putting myself forward in a big way. I believe in myself enough to know that working together with this coach will enable me to grow in truly exceptional ways. And my next level of growth is only reachable through continuous support and exposure to new ways of thinking. What got me here won’t get me where I want to go – and I am committed to myself and to my growth.  

What are you committed to?  

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