The Power of Commitment

Yesterday I experienced all over again the power of a commitment. I think we often underestimate commitments, especially when we make them public.

Yesterday morning I wrote about dog-sitting our granddog and how that was going to force me to reprioritize a few things, including making sure I got outside to walk her a couple of times each day. By the time we got home from church and dinner with friends, it was pouring rain (I mean POURING rain), so I thought to myself, "Oh good, it's raining and there is NO way I'm going to walk in this downpour." I checked a few e-mails, caught up on Facebook and was just starting to contemplate the idea of a nice, long Sunday afternoon nap when I looked outside. The rain had stopped and the sun was out . . . I was then faced with a choice. What I REALLY wanted to do was just take a nap, figuring I could put the dog out on the tie-out stake so she could do her thing and I could do mine.

However, I remembered that I wrote about the need to reprioritize and I remember talking about taking the dog for a walk. Had I not made that commitment publicly, I am pretty sure that my slovenly side would have won out and I would have been stretched out on my sofa for an hour or so. I just couldn't figure out how to do that and come back here today to encourage other people to do the right thing, even if it was hard :-). So I laced up my shoes, grabbed the dog leash and walked FAST (the dog tends to want to go at her own pace) for a full 45 minutes.

Do you know what? It felt GREAT to be outside and moving! I came home SO glad that I'd gone for a walk and not talked myself out of it.

We often make quiet commitments to ourselves, and when we break those commitments (and we all do), we are pretty quick to forgive ourselves. However, once we make the commitment public, we're much more likely to follow through because now other people know what it is we've said we'll do.

This isn't the time for me to talk about why we're much more likely to keep commitments to others than we are ourselves (that's a topic for another day!). But this is the time to say once again that that's why I post a blog every morning. You are encouraged to post a comment with your own daily commitment, because it is a simple but powerful tool that can help you stay on plan. When we commit to our friends here that we're going to do something, we have a little more incentive to actually do it :-)

So who's committed to an on-plan day today?

Blessings!
Cheryl