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.
Consistency leads to so many good things
Consistency doesn’t mean—nor should it be equated with—perfection. Consistency is aligned with improvement. Don’t turn it into perfection; focus on trying to improve. There’s no need to beat yourself up over a missed day or action—get back on the horse.
As Joel Runyan puts it: _Never miss two days in a row._ He’s not advocating perfection—just don’t become inconsistent. Similarly, Ryan Holiday, in his _Daily Stoic_ newsletter, encourages us to pursue improvement, not perfection.
Admiral William H. McRaven equates consistency with self-discipline and broader change: _“Small acts of discipline practiced each day develop self-discipline. It’s your self-discipline that will enable you to change the world.”_
Like Admiral McRaven, Grant Cardone believes consistent, disciplined action is the most significant determining factor for success. The ability to work at something consistently will lead you toward a successful outcome more reliably than any other path. That “successful outcome” might simply be discovering that what you’re doing isn’t delivering the desired results—but at least you’ll _know_.
Consistency is evident in successful leaders. As Ron Chernow points out, George Washington embodied this: _“Once Washington had set his sights on independence, his vision was unblinking, and his consistency proved one of his most compelling qualities.”_ His decision, coupled with focus, drove him to a successful end. His team knew precisely what was expected and measured everything against one standard: independence.
Successful leaders are also consistent in how they handle praise and criticism. Consistent leadership gives your team the comfort of knowing what you expect and how you’ll communicate areas for improvement. It makes you less likely to “fly off the handle”—unless you do _that_ consistently.
It’s rarely a single action that drives success, but rather the repeated act—the consistency—that provides the data and feedback you need. I’ve written about _tiny experiments_: the key to a successful tiny experiment is doing _X_ for a set period. The success lies in the information you gather, not necessarily in whether the experiment “worked.”
I’ll leave you with a quote from legendary NFL coach Bill Walsh: _“Even in the worst circumstances, do not unravel mentally or emotionally. Continue to fight and execute well. Even if the cause appears to be lost, act like professionals.”_
You control consistency—it’s all on you.
Dashboard
Persistence is key to improvement. Persistent practice drives improvement. I keep a pad in my car so that I can practice drawing. Having a pad and pen handy eliminates any friction. While waiting for tennis, I pulled out a notepad and a pen and sketched my dashboard.
A simple drawing of my dashboard helped me work on perspective, circles, and spacing. All because I have a pad and pen in my car.
How can you improve your persistence by eliminating some friction?