Commitment: The Bridge Between Intention and Achievement
We all want success. We admire it, chase it, and often measure ourselves against it. But success rarely shows up without its steady companion: commitment. Commitment is the force that pushes you forward when excitement fades, when results aren’t immediate, and when the price feels steep. The question is—what does it really mean to be committed, and how does that shape your version of success?
Success and commitment are good things, right? Many people say commitment drives success and that hard-charging people who are committed move towards success.
As Scott Adams put it in his book _How to Fail at Almost Everything_, you need to figure out the price for success and then pay the price. This does bring the notion of personal success and what the price is you are willing to pay. Just make sure success is defined on your terms, not society’s.
Brian Moran brings in the emotional side when he offers that commitment is when you bring in both the emotional and intellectual course of action. You must feel it, not just know it. You need a strong enough emotional why to stay committed—not just knowing you should. Everyone knows exercise is good for you and you should commit.
Jeff Goins, in _The Art of Work_, says you get clarity from action and commitment. Do you find out who you are through your commitments—what you commit to? Or is it because you commit to something that you see what you are made of?
Then there is the animal instinct of just push: commit to doing 10 repetitions of the thing. No matter what, get 10 reps done. Is this enough of a tiny experiment to get you enough information to see if it is worth it?
On an emotional level, is commitment a promise to yourself? Can you keep promises to yourself? Brian Moran offers this up in his book _The 12 Week Year Field Guide_. Can you keep these promises? What does this say about your ability to remain consistent and committed? Should you?
Darrin Donnelly, in his book _Think Like a Warrior_, brings a bit of Stoic philosophy into commitment by offering that you should only commit to things you have total control over. This has merit, as it is hard to commit to something where you are relying on others for your success or fate.
This ties into the book _The Gap and the Gain_ by Hardy and Sullivan, where they talk about internal vs. external comparisons. Success, and the commitment to it, come from focusing on internal comparisons vs. external—commit and remain committed to improving yourself, against yourself. You control this.
Goins also offers that successful people don’t succeed despite failure but rather as a result. Is failure—or perceived failure—the result of lack of commitment? If you are committed and act on that commitment, then you will have success, be it information to see if what you are doing works for you.
Finally, Hugh Culver on _HughCulver.com_ offers a simple thought: success comes from doing the work. Just be consistent.
### The Takeaway
Commitment is the bridge between intention and achievement. It’s the promise you make to yourself and the follow-through that proves you mean it. Success isn’t about never failing—it’s about staying in the game long enough, and consistently enough, to discover what works for you. Define success on your terms, commit with both heart and mind, and then simply do the work. The rest follows.