“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results.”
Kenneth Blanchard
No excuses, just results.
How can you create commitment if you aren’t measuring the right things?
Hold yourself accountable first, then commit to delivering the results that matter.
No excuses from yourself or anyone else…
“It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies.”
Thomas Paine
A few exceptional and committed people can accomplish almost anything.
It’s been my experience that if you double the size of the team and halve the degree of commitment, 25% of the work will be done.
Which team do you want to be part of?
“Don’t cheat the world of your contribution. Give it what you’ve got.”
Steven Pressfield
What is the difference you are going to make in the life of one other person today? This isn’t a rhetorical question. Stop now, get a pen and paper and write down a name and write down what you are going to do. Be specific. At the end of the day, look at this note and take great satisfaction that you chose to contribute to another person very intentionally. Doing this act might be your greatest contribution for the day.
The world isn’t where we should focus our energy. Instead we should focus on the one or two lives we can impact the most through our gifts. That is our greatest contribution, to live life fully in this way. Every. Single. Day.
“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”
Vince Lombardi
This really made me pause and think. The “quality of a person’s life,” not just the quality of their work, or the quality of their specific job, but the quality of their entire life is based on their commitment to excellence. What is your commitment to excellence right now? Are you committed to it fully in any and every role or job that you have? In all aspects of life?
Quality of life = the desired result
Commitment to excellence = the input that delivers the desired result
I put the inputs second because I believe it is critically important to “begin with the end in mind.” Do you have a definition in your head of what “quality of life” means? Once you have that clearly defined in your head then the right question to be asking is, “where do I need to be increasing my investment in excellence in order to achieve the quality of life I desire?
“Nothing can substitute for just plain hard work. I had to put in the time to get back. And it was a grind. It meant training and sweating every day. But I was completely committed to working out to prove to myself that I still could do it.”
Andre Agassi
There is almost nothing better than the feeling of accomplishment when you complete some momentous, all encompassing objective. The type of project where it took 100% of your effort and commitment. These are the ones where during the work it is so hard that you are just gutting it out, getting it done, never willing to compromise and deliver less than what you know you are capable of doing.
There might be almost no better feeling, but it only works to motivate you in the future if you take the time to reflect, learn, celebrate success, and then reset your head for the next one. I have to remind myself of this all the time as I am likely to jump from one all-encompassing thing to the next. Take a few minutes today to pause, reflect, breathe.
Then go grind it out and get it done…