Commitment breeds Consistency

  

 I tried to learn Chinese a few years ago. 

I breezed through my CD-ROM of Mandarin 1. No doubt most of what I learned in 2005 (in China) I forgot over the last couple of years but I was consistent in studying when I came back. The belief that kept me going was this idea of traveling back to China someday, work or travel. The language study fulfilled some emotional attachment I had, and have, to the middle kingdom. I liked the ‘idea’ of learning Mandarin, more than actually learning Mandarin. 

The long term commitment to learn it just wasn't there. 

Like gym-goers full of energy and dedicated to losing weight we forget our exuberance after a rainy day or a cold morning. By April the passion in the eyes is all but dim, like the last few coal embers on a camp fire. This is human nature though. We ebb and flow on commitments because our feelings get in the way. If we understood how emotional our commitment to exercise and healthy eating was we wouldn’t be surprised when it finally waned.

Emotion clouds commitment as surely as Kool-Aid colors water.

Long term commitment requires a larger reserve of guts to accommodate the crashing waves of emotion along the way. If not guts than something more eternal, a higher purpose. Spouses of loved ones with debilitating diseases spring to mind. I noticed a special recently about a movie director with ALS whose wife takes care of him regularly, he managed to direct a film in his condition. The fact that he directed a film through words typed on to a screen using his eyes to located keys on a keyboard (Stephen Hawking style) is amazing and inspirational. His wife and her upbeat look at life and kids really impressed me though. She takes care of him all the time while raising a handful of kids too.

I imagine she approaches every discipline in life with the same dedication it takes to care for her husband and kids.

 Long term commitment has transferable skills that jump from one successful corner of life to another. For instance, if working out is your thing and you’ve been faithful to it, you understand the discipline it has built in you. The foods you’ve avoided, the parties you left early, the alarms you’ve woken up to have all contributed to a better you. When you take on new tasks you are more likely than others to finish them or continue working on projects that aren’t interesting anymore. Because you understand how to ride waves of commitment when others bail out, sick of trying to stay on the surfboard.

Commitment has to be enough by itself, all by itself. Saying “I’d love to go but I can’t…I made plans to help Todd move” has to be enough. Sticking with something doesn’t have to feel a certain way it just needs to be something consistent you do, something you practice. Emotion can’t have any part of it. Stick with that difficult thing and watch improvement roll in.

 Whether learning a language or giving up Saturdays to help a neighbor move, steadfastness pays off. You will approach other situations in life with the same dedication.

You know what it takes now. You are committed.