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There are few things as simple and inspirational as a quote.  I shared a Unique Genius-y Dr. Suess quote a couple of weeks ago (here) and my Superhero client Nate (of www.FearlessEndeavors.com) came back with one of his own favorite quotes that is SO PERFECT:

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back — Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that 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.  Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.  Begin it now.” -Goethe

Just awesome.  First comes commitment, then comes clarity.  So many aspiring entrepreneurs want clarity first before you make a commitment…but that’s not how it works 🙂   I know that all the companies I’ve started in the past began with a mental decision and commitment that “I’m going to start a company, even if I have no idea what it is yet.  The idea will come.”

An Example Of The Power Of Commitment

I asked Nate to share why he’s so inspired by the quote and he shared a personal example of how it worked for him, that I’m sure you will emphasize with…here’s his well-written take:

“To me, this quote is about setting intentions and taking action.  So many people, myself included go through the process of consume, consume, consume, but they never actually do anything.  You know…there’s no real commitment put in.  Why?  Fear…plain and simple…fear.

Speaking personally, it’s scary to put yourself out there and try something that might fail or that I don’t know will succeed.  It’s so much easier to question myself endlessly until I convince myself ‘yup, see, you can’t do that!’ or ‘nope, it won’t work, that’s a horrible business idea!’  It’s crazy, b/c I’ll come to those conclusions w/o actually trying something.

So..until you actually commit ‘f— it, I’m doing this….I’m going forward and nobody is going to stop me,’ then yes, you will hesitate and yes, you will draw back to innate, habitual patterns that have been built up over a lifetime.

Once you get over that though…well then, things start to happen.  They start to happen because you open up to allowing new things to happen.  Sure, you might open up to failure, but you also open up to succeeding and even if you ‘fail’ you’ve still learned and you can move forward from there.

It’s crazy….I work out on a pretty regular basis..or at least I thought.  At the beginning of the year I really wanted to focus on losing some weight in the belly area :).  I’ve tried in the past, but I’m not sure I fully committed.  This time I did.  I picked a program, I’ve been watching my diet and really consciously eating better and b/c of that I’ve lost 9 pounds in the last 6 weeks.  It was through the commitment and initiative that I finally achieved results.

I’m trying to take the same approach with the Unique Genius work and thinking about businesses.  In the past I’ve read material, done exercises, created a blog, wrote blog posts….but I’m not sure that was really commitment per se.  A few weeks back I actually wrote down an intention on paper.

This is exactly what I wrote:

Goal Statement:

By July 14, 2011 I will have an established and profitable business idea that has made me $1,000 on the side.  I will work 7-10 hours/week to work on and reach this goal.  The ultimate goal is to have a side business that I can scale and grow, which will allow me to leave my corporate job so I can work when I want, where I want with who I want while being fully committed to helping others.

So everything I do now is related to the above.  Is what I’m doing now helping me work toward the above?  How?  It’s helping me focus a bit better when I’ve actually set an intention and a goal.

You can follow Nate at:
www.FearlessEndeavors.com

What Are You Ready To Commit To?

Have you been dancing around committing to something, but are sick of not making progress?  Write it down.

By the way, I applaud Nate for taking baby steps and not committing to some wildly unlikely goal of “make a million dollars this year”.

PDA It (“Public Declaration of Action”)

What’s a really important goal for you this day, month or year?

The best way to stick to a commitment is to publicly declare it.  So if you’re bold enough and really going to do it, leave a comment here and tell people what you’re committing to!

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7 Responses to “What Are You Ready To Commit To?”

  1. Who’s Inspiring Me Today: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | The Drama Queen's Guide to Changing the World Says:

    […] in Uncategorized “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back — Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that 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.  Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.  Begin it now.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe via Aaron Ross […]

  2. Evan Says:

    For me it’s not so much commitment as knowing the ways and means. Commitment comes pretty natually to me (if you don’t like your commitment you can always change it).

  3. Tat Yuen Says:

    Evan Says:”For me it’s not so much commitment as knowing the ways and means”

    I started my own business in a crowded market less than a year ago and it’s going great! I committed to it without knowing all the ways nor the means but went ahead anyway. Good news is that I already had all that I needed to be resourceful in order to get the resources I needed and learned the “ways” on the way and that was great because I would only focus on the ways that really mattered day to day and not in a fictitious “thinking model”. Bad news is that I will never know all the ways nor have all the means because my plan is in flux, adapting to my changing world due the the ripples I’ve made in in. Wait…, that’s also a good thing!

    Nate Reply:

    @Tat Yuen, yes, I absolutely agree with this. It’s about not knowing and doing it anyway. There’s a certain amount of motivation and belief that has to be cultivated before you go ahead and do that though. If you go ahead and ‘do’ w/o any belief or faith that you can achieve what you’re going to accomplish, then you’ve already set yourself up for failure before you begin. On the other hand, if you know your specific goal (e.g. written in some statement with specifics, such as mine above) and then #2 constantly reaffirm and believe that statement to be true with a plan to achieve it, even if path is not 100% clear, then you will have a much higher probability of success.

  4. Rob Says:

    Thanks for posting the quote and the inspiration – it was timely for me. I have just given notice at my company – my last day is May 13th and am looking at a variety of new career alternatives. This quote is just what I needed as I take the summer to evaluate my options and then “commit”.

  5. Rob Says:

    One more comment – here is a good article for those thinking about committing to a new future.

    http://blogs.forbes.com/stevenberglas/?partner=smallbusiness_newsletter

    Title – 5 Ways of Overcoming your Fear of Chasing Your Dream

  6. Jennifer McRae Says:

    Aaron
    Thank you for the great post today.
    I was listening to a great speaker, Chris Hughes, on CD this morning during my commute. It got me to thinking that I have been wanting to grow my business and do something more, but I have never actually made a commitment to this growth. My thought was that when I am truly ready to commit I will, so what is holding me back is only me. It just seem that the universe has brought this full circle to me today with your email and post.
    Thank you for continuing your work to motivate others.

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