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Have you ever made a commitment to yourself or someone and did not follow through? How did it make you feel?
When does commitment happen
Commitment only happens when there is a binding agreement between your heart, mind and emotions that moves you on a daily course of action towards your purpose. When this occurs, you will not allow the distractions of the world’s false promises of success detour you.
On the road to achieving excellence, many people will quit along the journey. They quit because they either didn’t want it bad enough or they were not committed. Some people are interested in reaching their dreams and others are committed to reaching their dreams.
The key to winning in life is not just being interested, but being committed.
Once you are committed, you will work at all cost to produce the right results. When commitment rests in your heart, you mentally focus and do whatever it takes to make your vision a reality. That is when you become an unstoppable force!
George Washington Carver’s Story
A great example of someone who God used with an unwavering commitment to become an unstoppable force was George Washington Carver. He was born a slave in 1864, but by the time of his death 80 years later, Carver would be revered as one of the 20th Century’s greatest scientists.
Henry Ford said, “Professor Carver has taken Thomas Edison’s place as the world’s greatest living scientist.”
Mr. Carver’s path to scientific success was a long and difficult journey. After slavery was abolished, he enrolled in a college in Kansas. He was accepted on paper, but when he got to school, the administrators rejected him because he was black. Blacks were not allowed to attend the school.
Instead of walking away, he built a plant conservatory nearby and plowed seventeen acres of rice, corn, and produce without the assistance of any work animals.
George moved to Iowa and eventually enrolled at Iowa State Agricultural College and became its first black student. He later became the school’s first black faculty member and taught there until he was invited by Booker T. Washington to lead the Agricultural Department at Tuskegee University in Alabama.
In forty-seven years teaching at Tuskegee, Mr. Carver devoted his life to an uncompromising commitment to develop farming technologies and uses for plant products.
It was said, he began each day with an earnest prayer that God would reveal to him the secrets of the flowers, plants, soil and weeds so that he might help “put more food in the bellies of the hungry, more clothing on the backs of the naked and better shelter over the heads of the homeless.”
His uncompromising commitment and scientific genius helped him revolutionize the American agricultural economy by discovering over three-hundred uses for the peanut (and hundreds more for soybeans, sweet potatoes, and pecans).
George Washington Carver’s sincere desire to help farmers and his unwavering commitment set him apart as a man God could use to do an incredible work.
5 Essential truths
Commitment is what makes success possible. If you commit to do whatever it takes to make your vision a reality (as long as it is moral, legal and ethical) then success will open its doors.
Here are five essential truths to empower you to make unwavering commitments.
- Commitment is demonstrated by action. Your commitment to a task is not measured by your words. If it was, a lot of us would have accomplished some tremendous things. But, your words do not matter if you never take action.
If you want to lose weight then it is necessary to commit to an exercise and healthy eating plan that you follow daily. If you stood at an alter and regurgitated marital vows before God and a congregation of people, you need to commit to being a faithful and loving husband.
If you fathered children, you should commit to training your children in an respectable manner. The real progress of commitment is demonstrated by the consistent actions you take daily.
- Commitment determines what is worth dying for. I am not necessarily talking about physical death. I am referring that you put to death the things that obstruct you from making lasting commitments. When you take action to eliminate these obstructions, you bring greater value to your life and family.
Don’t make haphazard commitments that are only based on money and possessions. Don’t make careless commitments that separate you from God and family. Don’t over commit in one area of life that you neglect the other areas. None of these are worth dying for.
The commitments that are worth dying for are the ones that enhance your life and empower those connected to you.
- Commitment originates in the heart. Commitment does not occur because you dream about doing something great or you see someone accomplishing awesome things. It is not something that someone can give you by attending a seminar or reading a bestselling book.
Those things are good tools for inspiration and encouragement, but true commitment originates in the heart of a person that desires to achieve something of significance.
An unwavering commitment to your vision that rests deep in your heart will push you towards victory even under adverse circumstances. You won’t let anyone or anything detour your progress. You won’t let the economy or the job market drain your energy. You won’t allow failure and doubt discourage your journey.
You know you have a vision that resides in you and you know you must not succumb to the intense pressures to break your commitments and give up.
- Commitment can be measured over time. If you ever want to see how committed you are to a goal, measure your progress. Document your goal with specific dates that you want to accomplish certain tasks. After a couple of months, review your progress and see how you measure up.
If you set a goal to lose ten pounds, check your goal sheet periodically to see where your stand. If after a couple of months you have gained two pounds or you are at the same place, you need to check your commitment. You may have set a goal you never had any intentions on achieving.
- Commitment opens the door for opportunities. The greatest thing about making a real commitment is the doors of opportunity that will open. A lot of people commit to achieving a goal for a while, but because things don’t happen the way they want, they give up. If someone does not do things exactly the way they want, they will walk away.
Don’t forfeit doors of opportunity opening in your life because things do not go your way or you are waiting for an easy way. Don’t walk away from a potential blessing because you had to start small. Don’t settle for failure because you blew it yesterday.
No matter where you are in life, you must decide to live up to your current commitments. When you do, watch the doors of opportunity open in your favor.
I don’t want you to think because you make a commitment to implement these five essential truths that everything you commit to will automatically fall into place, everyone who is close to you will encourage your efforts or you will have a smooth ride to success without encountering some bumps and bruises.
Your life may get more chaotic. Things that use to workout may stop working. Individuals who said they would support your vision will leave you hanging. Promises you made to yourself, you will end up breaking.
That does not mean you give up. It may mean that you need to readjust, restructure and recalibrate your life to get back on the right path to living out your commitments.
“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.” Unknown
Question: What commitments do you need to make to live a winning life? Leave a comment below.
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