How Committed Are You?
Regardless of what you approach in life, there must be a level of commitment that assures a level of success. You should never enter a process halfheartedly. Do you know how committed you are to finding success? You should know…
We all have things we think we want to do and find the intestinal fortitude to step up to the plate and swing for the fences. But we also know that along the path of doing, we find it isn’t right for us, or it’s not something we enjoy.
You know the old story of a young person saying to a master of the violin, “I wish I could play like you!” The master says, “No you don’t.” Back and forth the conversation goes until the master finally says, “If you wanted to play like me you would practice 8 hours a day. That’s what it takes to play like me.”
Whoa! It takes a daily commitment of 8 hours to get as good as that one you admire? Let’s re-think this!
I so wanted to pilot and enjoyed the process of getting my private pilot license back in the mid-1980’s. A blast to be in control, and soar through the skies. But the cost of renting a plane after the license was earned, or even the cost of buying a plane, well… the commitment to flying sort of dwindled. There was no where to go, except to sight see, and the plane costs were astronomical for the rewards garnered.
To this day I drive by little airfields and wish I were able to fly… It’s still not cost effective for me.
When I wanted to learn programming I registered for a class, pre-bought the book, did every lesson while working in the computer room, took a box of all the results to the teacher the first day of class, “Now what?” RPG II, COBOL, FORTRAN… All languages done the same way. Eventually, I became a programmer and have developed in over 37 languages. My manager once told me, “Learn the application, who cares about the language! Languages come and go. Know the systems.”
Now, this was after a high school testing around 1970 told me to stay away from computers. My math skills were not high enough to warrant a career in this industry… Go figure!
My commitment gave me a satisfactory career, but the day came that I was too old, and had made too much money, and a job was hard to come by. So, I reinvented myself. Again. This is what you must be willing to do to be successful. Re-invent, restart, relearn, and charge the career again and again.
This past week, I answered a rhetorical question to myself. What would I do if there were only 12 more months to be proactive in my calling? Not my career. That’s a different story. Yesterday, I challenged the church to think the same way. What would you do if there were only 12 months left to do what you may have thought was impossible before? Maybe you had lost your zeal and drive. Maybe, just maybe, you were even wondering why be persistent about my commitment?
We have heard those stories over and again of the person who kept trying, and right before they quit, they tried one more time. Voila! Success! Rescued!
If you are committed to success, maybe you will take the challenge of thinking, 12 more months. If you are committed, you will find someone to inspire you. If…. Maybe you need to read the story of Aron Ralston… Go ahead. Let me know what you think.
More later…