Commit to Seeing It Through
Commitment to see something through to completion is what makes the difference between winning and being an “also ran”. The key ingredients of commitment are determination, motivation, and enthusiasm.
Take the Next Step
An astonishing number of people give up trying to achieve their goals at the very point when things are just about to improve. They miss out on reaping the benefits of all the hard work that has gone into aiming for their goal when they may be just one phone call away from getting a “yes”, or one extra training run from being a winner. This principle has served successful leaders and entrepreneurs throughout history and it is the biggest gap between success and failure.
Commit to Success
Before embarking on any project, clarify your goals and values, estimate the timescale, and make a commitment to see it through to completion. Break down your planned work on the project into stages and assign markers of achievement to each stage. Assess regularly how many stages you have flagged up and what you can learn from those you haven’t. That way, you will recognise the tipping point and not give up just before the breakthrough. When you first commit to losing weight or getting an extra qualification, you will already have made a decision to see it through – there was a powerful positive energy attached to achieving your desired goal, and you were determined
not to let anything get in your way. Remind yourself of the feeling you had when you first committed to your goal, so when things get tough you can push through.
Apply the ICAN Philosophy
ICAN (Improvement is Constant and Never-ending) is based on Kaizan, the Japanese philosophy of daily incremental improvement. The idea behind this philosophy is to look for opportunities to improve any aspect of your life by degrees. Over time, this approach leads its followers closer
to perfection. This thinking has been applied in a wide range of industries, from pharmaceuticals to automobiles.
Do It Gradually
Suppose you want to run a 400m race in four months’ time. You’re keen to win, but you know that you are five seconds behind the pace based on your current track time. Closing the gap in the time available might at first seem an impossible goal. However, if you break it down into smaller targets – a monthly improvement of 1.25 seconds, which is a daily improvement of 0.0416 seconds – the goal becomes more achievable and you are able to measure your progress.
The Knowing/Doing Gap
You probably know how much exercise you should do each week, how many glasses of water you
should drink each day, and how much sleep you should get each night. However, while these things are common sense, they are usually not common practice. How often do you find yourself caught out by things that you know you should be doing, yet aren’t doing consistently? You need to find some way of motivating yourself to do what you know you should be doing, and to keep it up
even when the going gets a bit difficult.
Closing the Gap
If you find it a struggle to make a start on a diet or a fitness regime, or simply cleaning the house, there are ways you can motivate yourself to close the gap from procrastinating about a task to getting it done.
➔ The first step is the one that counts. Get stuck into it by committing ten minutes to the task. Once you’ve started, you’ll find it’s easier to keep going.
➔ Slice it into sections. If it is a large task, such as cleaning the house, just do one room at a time.
➔ Incorporate some fun or something interesting in the task. If you are starting a running programme, time yourself and keep a log of how you felt and how far you ran. Then, next time,
you have something to compare it to.
➔ Keep the end in mind. If you think about how satisfying a clean house is and how nice it will look when you’ve finished, you will be more motivated to make a start.
