What Is Commitment?
By Rodney Bullard
CEO The Same House PBC | Former Senior Executive at Chick-fil-A / Global CSR, ESG and Marketing Leader | Best-Selling Author | Former AUSA | Former Air Force JAG l Corporate and Non-profit Board Director
“When you’re surrounded by people who share a passionate commitment around a common purpose, anything is possible.” – Howard Schultz
Commitment is often the first step to achieving success. It shows that you are serious about your goals and willing to do the work required to achieve them. Once you have committed, it is vital to stick to it. This means following through on your promises and acting towards your goals.
Having a Commitment means maintaining a certain level of consistency in your actions and words. It is often said; that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. To achieve success, you need to be willing to commit to a particular course of action and see it through to the end. This means sticking to your goals even when things get tough.
One of the essential things in any relationship is trust. If you can’t trust someone to keep their word, the relationship will likely suffer. Commitment is necessary for building trust. When you commit to someone, you are telling them that you are reliable and that they can count on you to follow through on your promises.
Without Commitment, it is challenging to achieve anything in life. Commitment is what allows you to set goals and achieve them. It drives you to continue working towards your goals even when you feel like giving up. When you are committed to something, you will likely see it through to the end. If you ask someone to define Commitment, you might hear words like “dedication” or “obligation. “The term is often used to describe the stage of a relationship from friendship, dating, and marriage. None of these definitions get to the heart of the word and the action required to make it robust.
Problems occur when we don’t set the intention or plan of action to achieve the goals behind our commitments. They are simply proclamations with no result. Imagine running into an old colleague and offering a commitment to meet for lunch in the future but never reaching out to set the date. Ignoring the actual process becomes lip service and a broken promise.
This idea may sound simplistic and obvious, but how often have we made declarations that never come to fruition? Please think of the promises we make to ourselves about our health, fitness, finances, and goals. I think of New Year’s resolutions and all the intentions without a plan or motivation to support them.
When building bridges, we must look at the long game. They are not made overnight. They are not without challenges, sacrifice, and setbacks. As said in Philippians, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (4:13). Commitment sets the intention, while passion and determination fuel the action.
This begins with interest but must evolve to include outcomes and choices. We choose whether to become involved. We choose whether to move from talking about something to doing the things that need to be done. As Kenneth Blanchard said, “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.”
We choose whether we will be our communities’ lifeline and helping hand by providing results instead of just talking about them. The real question we must all answer is, can I commit to building a bridge where it’s desperately needed?
The next step is being present for the mission. Galatians offer us encouragement with, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (6:9). The beauty comes after intention becomes Commitment and our bridges give rise to hope and healing.
Declaration: Today I will surround myself around committed people