Episode Transcript

Hello everybody, I’m Steven Nathenson CEO and founder of Strive For More and today I want to talk about commitment. We often hear about commitment when we talk about the fear of commitment, but that’s not just about relationships. It applies to everything in life. Are we committed to what we do? And a great way of maybe asking this to ourselves is, do we often start things that we don’t finish? Am I committed to seeing something to completion, to bringing it to fruition? Achieving what I want?

Prime example that I’ll share. I absolutely love the Olympics. I love what they stand for. I love the competition. I love the lifestyle, the dedication, the commitment of the athletes to succeed at their sport, to strive, to be the best, to show up and play for their country, compete for their country, everything about it. But that’s definitively a topic for a different day.

When we talk about commitment, every single time the Winter Olympics come around, I will say, “I got to start speed skating. I’ve played hockey. I could skate. Why not pick that up? Why not learn it?”. But I never do it, right. I’m not actually truly committed to doing it otherwise I would do it and I would take that action and I would see it to fruition.

So that’s just an example. Maybe we don’t even start it, like I don’t. I just think about it. So for you who’s listening or watching this, do you often start things or think about doing things that never happen? That’s what we’re talking about here, commitment wise, especially when we talk about implement as a part of grit, give, recognize, implement time. It is a critical part of implement because when we are truly committed, we’re going to see our goal come to fruition. We’re going to weather the storm, the ups, the downs, the hurdles that come with it. We’re going to be more resilient because we’re truly committed to actually seeing what we want happen, come to completion.

I’ll share another example from my life [around that is 00:02:37]. In 2014, I worked security for the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Being a part of that experience was absolutely incredible. I’ve been to Olympics, I’ve been to a Super Bowl, I’ve been to a Stanley cup, I’ve been very fortunate because I absolutely love sport to have some of those opportunities and to see what the atmosphere is like at each of those venues. And there truly was nothing like the Ironman World Championships, because it didn’t matter who you were, what you looked like, where you were from, everybody cheered you on because I think they know just how much of a beast that race is and that courses in Kona as well. You have 17 hours to do that race. And people were out at midnight, celebrating, cheering people on getting them to come home, giving them the extra oomph they need to cross that finish line. And it was an absolutely incredible experience and at that time I said, “I want to become an Ironman. I want to do that.”.

It took me five years, little over five years actually to tow the line at my very first Ironman and that for me is what we’re talking about here at commitment. There was a lot of challenges that we won’t get into through today to bring that dream to fruition, but I was committed to doing it. I weathered those storms, I was resilient. I took the obstacles, the step backs, those hurdles in stride, but stayed the course because I was committed to truly making that happen and getting across that finish line and becoming an honorary [inaudible 00:04:32].

Commitment is just foundationally an important component of implement. When we talk about creating small steps, that build momentum that create these wins for us and give us this confidence that we are capable and this path that we will truly want to succeed because it’s easier to do it one small step at a time, instead of focusing on the whole picture What is in my control? What can I do? And it takes that level of commitment to bring that to fruition because things don’t always go the way that we want them to go in life. And that’s okay because we are capable of still overcoming them. But if I waiver in the face of adversity, in challenge, what we were talking about the last episode and I actually [stopped 00:05:26] working towards my goal and I really committed to making it happen when I’m truly committed, I see those obstacles or setbacks as something that’s just a natural part of that journey versus something that derails me and sets me off in this negative downward, non serving spiral that we’ve talked about before. Are you truly committed?

So let me open that up to you specifically for a minute. What in your life do you find that you finish and what do you not finish? That fundamental awareness that we talk about all the time is truly that it’s fundamental. It helps us build this knowledge bank. To know, where do we need to really harness our grit and how do we do that? When you find things that you do finish, curious to know for you, what helps you stay committed to that? What’s the difference there for you, when you don’t finish something versus when you do. The speed skating is just an Olympic pipe dream for me. There’s other things that are more important to me, more tangible. I love triathlons and I will have goals in that arena. And I would much rather spend my time working towards that, than say, picking up speed skating. Getting into a whole new different sport, dedicating more time to something that in reality I don’t have the time for. That’s the difference for me. There’s much more purpose and meaning behind my triathlon and my training there than there is to speed skating.

So that’s just an example, when I look at things I don’t finish in my life or even start versus things that I do. There’s a difference of inherent purpose and meaning for me; the goals that I have in each of those arenas. That’s just one thing that separates it from me. So for you, what do you find are differences between what you don’t finish and what you do finish and what helps you stay committed to what you do finish? Why, again, this is so important for this implement part of grit is if we’re not committed, it’s never going to happen. Just like my speed skating pipe dream. It doesn’t happen because I’m not really committed to actually making it happen. Whereas I am committed to getting faster and stronger at triathlons, which is something I actively work towards. It is a reason why I’ve taken the training off my plate even though I have certifications in that arena, I still wanted that next level and it’s good for me to have a coach to help me do that. Fully believe in coaching as coaching, but I never would have taken those steps and said, “You know what, it’s worth paying for a coach.”. If I wasn’t truly committed to making my goals in triathlon come true.

So what are you committing to? What are you not committing to? What’s the difference there? When we know what’s going to help us truly stay committed, we are going to then be able to leverage that in a very serving way to take it one small step at a time to get to where we ultimately want to go and achieve that success, reach our goals and then, you know what, may even find we can go even further than we thought. So until the next time be the movement in your life.

 

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