Commitment

“There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permits. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.” Ken Blanchard

No Excuses.  I've said these words a few times recently and the feedback I've gotten from it was nothing more than mockery or a weak attempt to make fun of the matter.  No excuses rides deep in the heart of the committed and the successful. For it is excuses that cause lack of productivity and accomplishments.

Successful people making up the 1%, that the 99% bitch about, live without excuses.  They make things happen. They bring their ideas onto the table and act NOW to make sure they collect the profits and successes of those brilliant thoughts.  While the 99% sit back in a puddle of mud and weep sorrow for the imaginary excuses filling their minds, the "1%" (The Romney's, The Obama's, The Seth Godin's, The Zach Even Esh's, The Dave Tate's, The Jack Welch's) excuse the excuses and act now.  They move forward. (And these people may not be the 1% of the wealthiest but they are the 1% of getting it done.)

They are committed.

Ken Blanchard once said you accept no excuses when you're committed, in The On Time, On Target Manager. This rings true in every aspect of our lives.  We are committed to paying our rent, so we work.  We are committed to getting our children medical help when they are sick.

Ask yourself what you are committed to and what you are interested in.

If you're interested in losing weight, sit back, read a book about it, and wish it'll happen.  If you are committed to losing weight you act now, you make a plan, you go to the grocery store and buy what you need (not what you want), and you are in it for the long haul.

People who show interest cancel or don't show for something a committed person feels is important.  A committed person records in a notepad their meals for the day and their workouts- including all sets and reps, if the lift was a personal record or if they failed to meet expectations.  They go back to the drawing board and make a plan to achieve their records.

Steve Jobs wasn't just interested in Apple because it was innovative, he was committed to watching it succeed.  When he regained control of the company it was listed on the stock market somewhere around 25-30 bucks a share.  Today it's hovering over $630.  Interest alone did not make that happen.

Take ten minutes where you are completely alone in a quiet place with no distractions and dig deep down inside your body, mind, and life and ask yourself what your interests are and what your commitments are.  If you have an interest in something and can't find the time to do it, scratch it out and never do it again.  If you find something that really gets you moving make the commitment to succeed at it and give it everything you have.  No fucking around here any longer. It is what it is.  It's a gut check.  It may make you emotional or devastated but what you do next will be the plot of your story.