Make A Commitment

[N/A N/A]

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.
Henry David Thoreau

If you’re not prepared to stick with a plan for as long as it takes—if you can’t imagine yourself waking up everyday excited about what you’re doing; and/or you’re not emotionally mature enough to handle ups and downs, then the lifestyle of an entrepreneur is not for you. There are several keys to making and keeping a commitment. A commitment begins with a decision. If you’re not clear in your mind what you want to do, you’ll never commit to it. You need to surround yourself with quality people, who support your decision. You need a mastermind team to help you think, focus, and implement your plan, and you need accountability partners.

Make a decision to build an income around your life rather than your life around your income. If you’re not living where you want to live, doing what you want to do each day, then you need to decide right now that you’re going to change your situation. There can be no doubt in your mind about this. You must be absolutely committed to living the life you’ve been dreaming about.

You may not immediately be clear about what kind of life you want to create for yourself. As mentioned earlier, it may be that at first you operate from necessity. The key is to think on it often, and to evolve with each passing day a clearer, and clearer vision of the life you want. It’s important to be as specific as you can be. As you do this, and as you meditate on this, and spend time in introspection, you’ll begin to move as if by magic in the direction of the life you’ve imagined.

At the same time you’re consciously surrounding yourself with the right people, you need to get away from others. In some cases your detractors are close to you. I’m not necessarily advocating that you break relationships in those instances. However, acquaintances that are negative influences on you should be dismissed. Those close to you need to be “fired” from the position of “advisor”. In fact, if you really love someone you will likely have to fire them. Love must be demonstrated by action. Love isn’t a word, or a feeling, but a series of acts. Often acts of love are counterintuitive. Consider the following example:

In the 1950’s the major commercial airlines got together at a conference in Poland to devise a uniform safety procedure. If you’ve ever been on a commercial flight, then you’re familiar with it. No matter what airline you’re on, you get the same instruction from the flight attendants whose first job is the safety of the flying public.

One of the things that came out of that conference that you’re probably familiar with is the instruction on the unlikely, but possible sudden depressurization of the cabin. Again, if you’ve flown commercially you probably know how it goes:

[i]
In the event of sudden cabin depressurization, oxygen masks will drop from an overhead compartment. Place the cup over your nose and mouth and breathe normally. The bag may not inflate, but please be assured that oxygen is flowing normally. If you are traveling with young children, or passengers that may require assistance, place your mask on first before assisting other passengers. [/i]

Why would they say this? It’s because they know that you can’t help anyone if you’re passed out. The journey of the Lifestyle Entrepreneur begins with you “putting your mask on first”. If you’re a person that can’t say, “no” to other people, you’re probably not going to make it.

The difficult part of this is that it may be people close to you, people that you care about, that you have to say “no” to. Resist the temptation to remain in old habits, and have the strength to resist even those things you can rationalize as “good” or “higher priority”. Because here’s the thing: If you don’t, you’ll always be living a life of compromise. Do you want to be at your kid’s tee ball games every night this year, or do you want to be able to take your kid to every one of your favorite professional team’s games, home or away, every year after this? You’re going to make short term sacrifices now; or you’re going to be making compromises your whole life long.

Bill Cosby was once asked the secrets of his success, to which he responded “I don’t know the secret to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone.”

Regularly attend events where you’re likely to meet like-minded people in order to assemble a high quality mastermind team; and develop relationships with people who will be your accountability partners. George Bernard Shaw said, “People that get on in this world are those who look around for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, they create them”. The founders of the WCRT, of which I am one, which began in Chicago did just that. The motto of this extraordinary community is: Success by Association. Whether you choose to associate yourself with the WCRT or not, do choose your associations carefully and deliberately.