Be a Promise-Maker to Yourself
Irrevocablecommitments that offer no loopholes, no bail-out provisions, and noparachute clauses will extract incredible productivity andperformance from yourself.
-- Robert Schuller, Founder: CrystalCathedral, Garden Grove, CA
Doyou know that what you commit yourself to doing and being changes whoand what you are? By committing to a greater vision, you become agreater person.
Isuppose it should be no surprise that those who already have achieveda taste of success in any arena are much more likely not only to setgoals, but to have a sense of total commitment to those goals becausethey have greater confidence. And the most successful are those whoare “on fire" with their goals. They have reached the point wheregoals have become elevated to “promises".
What’sthe difference between a goal and a promise? A few of my coachingclients have said to me that making goals feels like something thatsomeone else is pushing you to do. In that case, the goals stay at“arms-length" – distant, cold and guilt-causing. Obviously,the wrong approach.
Theright approach? Knowing why you’re pursuing thatparticular aim. The “why do it" is more important for continuousmotivation than any other element. What will reaching this goalenable you to do, to be, to have, and to feel? When you getabsolutely clear about where you want your promise to yourself totake you, then you, too, will feel “on fire" with your vision.You will commit to doing what it takes to make it real – and it issuddenly transformed from a “goal" dragging you – into apromise that propels you.
Stopcreating goals if they only make you feel guilty. Ask yourself,instead
, what you will promise yourself to do in yourlife next.
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