Start your Year with a Vision You’re Committed To

The new year comes with resolutions, big goals, new ideas... But what happens to most? A resolution to go to the gym on January 2, falls off by February. A goal of starting that business you’ve been dreaming of fades off into the background in a few months. A new idea to launch lacks priority amidst the day to day. Why?

Because it’s hard. Change is hard. Growth is hard. Even surviving is hard for many these days. And there’s one thing and one thing only that consistently calls you beyond the status quo when possibility fades and things get busy: commitment. However strong your vision is you can’t achieve it without commitment. 

Commitment is your devotion to the cause. Real, meaningful commitment comes with risk and sacrifice. It’s putting something on the line for the result you’re looking for. Burn the ships. Get rid of  plan B. Or, as I call it, get a Tattoo. Commit so hard there’s no going back. 

To commit like that takes creating conditions outside of yourself. Even those with the strongest self discipline and willpower benefit from the risk and consequence that the outside world brings. You commit by sharing your vision with co-workers, friends or mentors. You commit by financially investing in your vision. You commit by being specifically accountable to someone. Anything that creates conditions of risk: risking money, reputation, image, or anything else, as long as it is outside of yourself. 

As hard as it might be, you’ll be happier for it. Barry Schwartz defined the paradox of choice as too much choice, causing the feeling of less happiness, less satisfaction, which can even lead to paralysis.

We live in a time where there’s not only too much choice in our consumption, but in what and how we can do most anything. All the backup plans, choices. What if scenarios, choices. Escape routes, choices. And the result is the same: less satisfaction, less happiness and fewer results. 

Commitment clarifies. It simplifies. It focuses your options. And it simultaneously not only gives you the results you’re looking for (or something closer to it than you have now), but it gives you greater satisfaction at the same time. 

So as we start out a new year… I invite you to take the step beyond a resolution, a goal, a vision... and really commit. When you commit, you’ll continue to make progress in the face of whatever circumstances come up. In other words: #NoMatterWhat. 

Here’s to 2021.