“Commitment leads to action. Action brings your dreams closer.” – Marcia Wieder
It’s the fourth day of the year 2021 and as we are about to get a footing into the new year, it’s imperative to get the right nudge to get us going. This is especially important because I’m sure we all wish to realize some goals in this year. It’s a common practice among most people to set into a new year with resolutions on what they hope to achieve which is a great first step. This is because they acknowledge the need to get to something they don’t have at the current moment – desire for growth. This is one of the prerequisites for personal development and growth as it evokes a sense of unease that makes you get to act. Unfortunately, not most people make the leap to move from resolutions to action and by end of the first quarter they’ve settled back to their status quo. How frustrating can it be to never achieve any of your desires year-in year-out? I feel you and that’s why I feel it’s important for me to share a tip with you.
As we were getting ready to start the year, we wrote down those new year resolutions. In case you didn’t, I’ll ask you to take a moment to write down at least one thing you’d wish to achieve by the end of the year. Once you have this, I am confident it’s some abstract goal like being financially stable, keeping fit etc. All these are great aspirations. However, there is a challenge with these aspirations. They are not action oriented. There is nothing specific you have committed to in this year and therefore there is nothing you will do if you set out with these as they are. This is why I believe you need to expound on or disintegrate this to finer actionable bits. Taking the example of being fit; you can start by saying you’ll do morning runs. Then designate a particular time frame e.g. 5:00 – 5:30AM. With this now you have a sense of direction. Next bit will be to know where you will be running. Take time to walk around your neighborhood to map a path you feel you can cover running every morning. With a map of your route, a timeslot and the action of running as the means you are able to act. What remains is for you to start running and commit to it. This takes me to the most critical bit of how we need to operate in this year: Commitment.
With our aspirations and generally in our lives we’ve been accustomed to making commitments and promises which often than not we don’t keep. The reason as to why we don’t keep them is because they are stated in passing without an action item attached to them. In case someone committed to take care of you the question would be how? Something we never ask about because we assume they’ll figure it out and act. They also never go beyond that. You need to be specific on how which can be in terms of paying your fees, catering for your meals etc. These are actionable items thus can be followed through on.
I am convinced that all the only measure of our commitments is the action we put in for which the outcome will be a manifestation of our commitment. There’s no way you can commit to something and do the exact opposite or nothing at all. What will be the measure of success in your commitment if you do nothing? This is something that came up yesterday in our introductory meeting at Ryculture as we were starting off the year and aligning on how we will operate in the new year. Moving in our commitment to our mission: To improve access to healthcare services and promote general human wellbeing should manifest in all that we do and therefore we identified our action items. It’s time for action and I urge you to take time and outline some of the actions you need to take in order to achieve your goals for the year.
“Commitment is Action. Without action your dreams edge closer to being nightmares.”