I have always been a goal girl. Goals motivate me! I get mixed reactions from people when they find out I have a bachelor’s degree, two master’s degrees and a doctorate degree. I have had people ask me if I love punishment, while others want to know how on earth I did it! Honestly, I literally thirst for knowledge. My cravings are found on the menu of education and counseling, so I figured, why not go through formal education to get my fill? My vision was HUGE, so my commitment had to be as well. I am not sure where I heard this quote, but it is one that has stayed with me: “If you are willing to do what others won’t, then you will have what others don’t.”
So what exactly does commitment look like? When I look back, sometimes I can hardly believe some of the sacrifices I made in order to fully commit to a goal! For example, in 1999 my husband Skeeter and I were both taking postgrad classes. Skeeter made the comment that we would be better students if we didn’t have cable. It was true… we had been spending way too many hours watching sports and movies while our classwork sat undone. At that time, we had just moved into a new house and money was tight, so I asked Skeeter if we should cancel our cable service. He smiled and shrugged “That would definitely get rid of the temptation.” I thought about it some more and the next day I decided to call and cancel. The customer service representative kept trying to convince me to keep the service. When I finally told him why we were cancelling, he said, “Wow. That’s a bold thing to do.” Looking back, I can see how bold it really was. When Skeeter came home from work that night and realized the cable service was off, he looked at me wide-eyed in disbelief and said, “I didn’t think you’d really do it!” I smiled and gave him a familiar reply: “If you are willing to do what others won’t, then you will have what others don’t.” Needless to say, we both got A’s in our classes. We also spent more time together. We had more time to study, to cook and bake, and to complete projects around the house. We became stronger as a couple and laid the foundation for our now 24 year marriage… and yes, we still rented movies and cuddled on the couch from time to time, but our media time was much more measured and controlled. When it was all said and done, we went 15 years without cable or satellite TV! It was a sacrifice I will never regret.
Do you have a habit of setting a goal and doing great in the first few weeks or months, only to abandon your goal later? It’s very possible to overcome this habit! Completion happens when you are fully committed to your goals. How committed are you? Take the survey below to find out.
Respond to the following with ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Yes / No | Description |
Do you have a goal that you genuinely want to achieve? | |
Have you written down your specific goal? | |
Have you told more than 5 people about your goal? | |
Have you articulated in detail why you want to achieve this goal? | |
Have you created a step by step plan for what is needed to accomplish your goal? | |
Have you identified resources for support: mentor, accountability partner, or coaching? | |
Do you have a time management system in place focused around your goal? | |
Do you have a visual representation of your goal somewhere you see it daily? | |
Have you / are you willing to sacrifice something you value to achieve your goal? | |
Is your plan realistic? | |
Are you willing to let go of distracting time wasters? | |
Do you believe that you can, and will, accomplish what you set out to do? |
Count the number of Yes Responses
1 – 4: With your current level of commitment, chances are slim that you will accomplish your goal.
5 – 7: Your current level of commitment is moderate, and if you can strengthen your commitment in a couple additional areas you will accomplish your goal.
8 or more: You are committed to your goal and are on track to accomplishing it!
How did you do? Does your score accurately reflect your goal commitment? Research about goal commitment has been done for years. Just a couple months ago a group of researchers published a meta analysis on the assessment of goal commitment. They confirmed that goal engagement is different from goal commitment. Both involve psychological attachment to a given goal, but goal commitment indicates motivation while goal engagement merely indicates acceptance of the goal. Commitment suggests a stronger bond with a goal, which means a person will have a stronger tendency to struggle through hardship to accomplish goals. Attributes the authors identified as essential for goal commitment include self-control, ambition, courage, zeal, passion, work ethic, dependability, industriousness, grit, tenacity, stamina, conscientiousness, perseverance, and persistence.
I am not suggesting that you have to have ALL of those attributes! However, if you find that you are stuck on one of your goals, developing one or more of these attributes may help you move you in your desired direction. Seek out self-development help through books or courses, or pair up with a coach to help you develop or strengthen the attributes that lead to goal commitment. One of the reasons I am a Life Coach is to help others with their goals. And of course, I preach “If you are willing to do what others won’t, then you will have what others don’t.”