Are You Interested or Committed?

I recently had the pleasure (or pain) of going through a rather difficult life change. I could bore you with the details but that doesn’t serve the purpose of this post nor do you all care about my sob story. Long story short during the process, I came across a book, “The Art of Uncertainty,” written by Dennis Merritt Jones. PURE GOLD. All of you stop reading this post and go buy it immediately. Have you purchased it yet? I’ll continue on…

3/4 of the way into the book, I read a chapter entitled “Are You Committed or Just Interested?” It blew my mind and I hadn’t even gotten through the first page of chapter 8 yet! I’m sharing my take-aways with all of you in hopes of you having an “ah-hah!” moment. Whether you are concerned with your nutrition, your training, your career or relationships, without unconditional, unwavering commitment, there will be a tendency to come up short with our goals. There is a deep struggle to overcome (Insert obstacle or fear) and it typically holds us back as we move into unknown territory, as Dennis explains, “settling for less than what in our heart we know we want and deserve.” (pg 123). Now, if that sounds like a whole lotta mumbo jumbo, let me break it down for you; if we aren’t 100% ALL IN, it ain’t gonna happen for you. No sugar coating here. But did you really read this for a pat on the back, or for some roll-up-your-sleeves-and-lets-get-to-work motivation? My guess is the latter and that you’re trying to move past fear or struggle or a hang up.

Let’s look at your nutrition or weight loss goals for the sake of this post. Are you committed to them or just interested? Have you committed to a goal and are struggling or having issues? Do you find yourself making these commitments and having a hard time honoring them? Understanding that the same qualities of passion, perseverance and persistence that make commitments work in every other area of our life (career or friendships or family, etc) will absolutely need to take place with our nutrition and training as well. Those same qualities need to “show up” in order for you to be successful.

Now, it’s pretty easy to say I’m committed to something 100% but putting it into action can sometimes be a different story. Being 100% committed means going beyond comfortable and not looking back. (This is where we tend to run into obstacles whether it’s time, money, bad days, stress, not seeing progress, etc).  Jones’ asks of his readers: “Can you see the infinite possibilities that lie waiting for you in the mystery on the pathway of uncertainty when your commitment takes you beyond the road sign marked the point of no return?” Imagine the possibility though IF…

I’ve come across a few clients lately that will call or text or write asking me things like, “can I eat this pizza this weekend even though I said I wouldn’t?” or, “how about just one glass of wine?” or “what if I don’t workout today, is that okay?” My answer as of late is always the same. Are you interested or committed? A person that is just interested will use excuses and brick walls as a reason to not continue on their journey while a person who is committed will persevere regardless of the obstacles. (I recently made an IG post about brick walls being present in our lives to show WHO wants it bad enough to climb over or break through). Now don’t get me wrong; you and I WILL have obstacles. I’m not saying it will be easy. Actually, it probably won’t be! It’s your passion and perseverance with your commitments that will take you beyond the obstacles.

Jones’ continues on to explain that all living things that persist (think persisting with our goals) will not only thrive but fulfill their true potential. On the opposite end of the spectrum, living things that don’t persist, just sort of survive. Is that really “living” though? Ask yourself, are you merely surviving or are you thriving? Persistence to our goals goes hand in hand with thriving. If you are looking at your nutrition and training as an area in your life where you are merely surviving, can you see the relationship between deep commitment and the role your tenacity and persistence plays? Chances are, you’re merely surviving and hoping it just happens on its own. 

Set your goals and commitments and use the power of the three Ps to help you get there; passion, perseverance and persistence. If we approach our obstacles in this manner, our goals will shift from meek interest to powerful commitment.