The Big Decision (Do You Really Want It?)

It took me a couple of months last year to realize I wasn't really committing myself to the idea that I would lose the weight, increase my energy level and generally get myself back in shape.

If there is nothing else I am capable of, I know when I am BS'g myself.

Why should you wait and wade through two months of posts to learn what I can share with you right now? Before I tell you, think about this:

• How are you doing on your goals this year?
• How many goals do you have?
• Are you focused or committed to making any one of them happen?

Here's the key ingredient to making anything work for you:
You have to decide you're going to do it; i.e., you have to be committed to it.

It's that simple and that hard. If you aren't ready to commit to it, you probably will not achieve it. It's that simple and that hard.

I found a couple of related posts this week which I have posted on the sideboard. One speaks to bloggers (Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life) and the other to writers (Commitment Contracts 1), but you will see that each took its ideas from the world of weight loss. (I've retitled the articles to provide a focus for what inside the article pertains to creating change in your life.)

Another suggestion is to read and heed the following from The Scottish Himalayan Expedition by William H. Murray:

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness . . . [But] the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way."

So what do you really want to do this year? Decide and focus on those things; save the rest for making progress and perhaps for tackling next year. Biting off more than one bite at a time will certainly guarantee that you can't eat the elephant. You're more likely to gag, balk, and throw it (and your hands) up in the air.