Are You Interested, or are you Committed?

This is a question I’ve started asking my kids when they come to me with a “want.”

“Dad, I want to buy this ______.”

“Dad, I want to make the ______ team.”

“Dad, I want to go to _____ college/university.”

So, I’ll ask them, “Are you interested in ____ or are you committed to ____?”  There is an interesting distinction that separates and interest from a commitment.  An interest is something that would be nice to achieve, but will be easily derailed by circumstances, obstacles, challenges, and excuses.  A commitment is something that you are ruthlessly driven to achieve.  You just do whatever it takes.

Writing down goals and objectives, either long-term or short-term is the first step toward commitment, not interest.  If we’re interested in something, but not ready to commit to it, we might say it to ourselves, keep it in our head, but we won’t declare it.  We’re not committed.  Sharing/declaring that commitment with someone else for accountability is another degree of possible commitment.

But, here’s the true reality.  No matter what we think, write, or say, the only verification of commitment is ACTION.  I may think I’m committed to something and I may declare that I’m committed to something, but until there is action to validate that commitment it’s still an interest.  It’s the actions, not the words, that turn an interest into a commitment.

I challenge you to look at your work and personal life and find a place where you might say you’re committed to something, but your actions are showing that it’s just an interest.  Are you interested in strengthening a relationship or are you committed to strengthening that relationship?  Your actions will tell you the truth.  Are you interested in continual improvement or are you committed to continual improvement?  Again, your actions will tell you the truth.

In the end, our actions tell the story…not the words.  What do you say that you are committed to?  Are your actions verifying that commitment?