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Overcoming commitment obstacles

Any goal or challenge that we have will have its good days and bad days. We will have time when everything is going right and we feel on top of the world and then there will be other times that ‘nothing’ is going right and we may feel like giving up.

Neither of these extremes are the whole picture. We will have these perceived ups and downs. But in reality whatever is happening in this moment will probably change in another moment. The only thing that will not change is you.

We can still feel challenged though as we continue to strengthen our level of commitments. When we have times that we are not feeling the best about is the time to be sure to talk to someone who can encourage us, keep the end goal in mind, think about some of your heroes in life and ask yourself how would they handle this.

You are responsible for the way you feel about any given situation. I read a story some time ago about 2 drivers who were sitting in traffic after the earthquake in California. The traffic was 3 times as bad as usual. One of the drivers was very angry and voiced his opinion fervently. The other had left earlier than usual, had brought a book, some snacks, and was generally prepared for the long drive. His attitude was that he was sure his boss would understand if he were late.

How we look at things determines our attitude and can keep us on course or lead us to quitting. Of course if we quit we will never reach our goal, keep our commitment, but if we are willing to ask for help, talk to ourselves they way we would talk to a friend and remind ourselves about the progress we have made so far, we will gain the strength we need to stay the course and be inspired to keep our promises.

““I can’t” is not a reason to give up, it’s a reason to try harder.”

Read about Mr. Joe’s commitment to the Ultimate Black Belt Test that started in January 2009 and will be completed with the final test in February 2010. He recently committed to the “Live Like a Champion” journey that begins in January 2010. His journal is My Journey.

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About CNN Heroes

Last night I watched a good portion of the CNN celebration of Heroes in the world today.  They were all ordinary individuals with a vision or idea of a way to help a single person or a group of individuals one at a time.  None of them believed they were heroes.  All of them were leaders.
There was one of them that really struck me with a comment she made in her acceptance speech after receiving an award.  She said, “It is quite a comment on the world when showing respect for or doing an act of kindness for someone is deemed heroic.”
I would agree with that.  For us to be leaders though there are skills and knowledge needed along with being able to look at situations and see what we can do to make a difference.  Our acts of leadership do not need to be so large that they affect every human on the earth.  In fact if we start with that goal in mind we are less likely to be affective. We can change the world of individuals and those around them.  When we are willing to help one person soon we find that we are affecting so many more.
In our own community we have heroes.  I will comment on some of them in the future.  But I believe that our children have that ability too if we develop it.  This is one of my goals for this year coming in 2009.  You may want to follow my Leadership Blog and look for some training sessions we will be doing this year coming up.  If you are interested in your child learning the skills and getting practice to be a leader, contact me at Balanced Life Skills and lets see how we can do this together.