[Editor’s Note: This article was written by Anna K
Commitment
Just the sound of that word might give people the shivers or send them running out the door. Despite whatever fears we may have, commitment is all around us.
Life is full of very different types of commitment. If you look at most people, they are committed to something-whether that be school, work, family, friends, or a significant other. All that means is that they have made the decision to do their very best to uphold that obligation and see it through. In some way or another, whether consciously subconsciously, they believe that this is something that holds value to them.
Just as we commit to these external circumstances and relationships, we can look inward and make an internal commitment as well.
What does this mean?
An internal commitment is one that exists entirely within you. If you make or break the commitment you are not directly hurting/helping anyone but yourself. In fact, no one even has to know about it!
Making an internal commitment means choosing a goal that solely exists within you and taking the steps necessary to making it happen. Goals of losing weight, stopping bad habits, or having clear thoughts, for example, are all internal commitments. On the other hand, committing to a job is an external commitment- you fail that one and you’re fired. You forget your significant other’s birthday- you end up sleeping on the couch.
You can see how external and internal commitments differ.
Why make an internal commitment?
When we make an “formal” internal commitment, we are more likely to follow through on it than if we simply tell ourselves that we are going to “try.” The commitment to yourself is recognition that YOU, yourself, are just as important as any external obligation or any goal that you have towards others/the environment. With an internal commitment we are more likely to work harder and get results. We recognize that following through on our commitments gets us closer to our vision- whatever that may be.
How do we make an internal commitment?
Make it formal! One great way is to make a CONTRACT. What we do is we write down, on a piece of paper, what we expect and will hold ourselves to, and then we sign and date it at the bottom.
A commitment does not mean that whatever you write is set in stone. Temporary setbacks are natural and we can recognize that we may veer off and may need to get back on the right path. We determine what we are willing to do and what we aren’t- we are the creators of the contract and it can be as easy or as drastic as we would like. (However, I would recommend that we begin with realistic and easy commitments that boost confidence and slowly build our way up)
Another interesting thing is that we can put time scales on our commitments. For example, we can commit to 1 month or 2 weeks- even a day- whatever time frame we’d like. We determine what is best for us and then afterwards we can review and see whether or not we’ve been successful thus far. We can modify future contracts. We determine our progress. We have no one to blame and no one to thank but ourselves!
After all- no one knows us better than we know ourselves.
So have some fun with it. Make some internal commitments and write up some contracts-see if it makes a difference in your life.
The Hidden Secret In Think And Grow Rich: A great book that shows you what Napoleon Hill really meant, and gives you the secret to achieving anything and everything. Take a look at my review of the book to check it out.
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译文:
给自己的承诺
也许一听到“承诺”这个词，一些人就会倍感压力，瑟瑟发抖或是夺门而出。不管我们在害怕什么，承诺却无处不在。
其实生活中到处都是可见的各式承诺。不信你看，大多数的人总是时不时在做出承诺：上学、工作、成家、交友抑或别的其他事情。而这都意味着他们对自己的选择做出坚持，并且愿意承担由其而来的责任。无论怎样，他们都在有意或无意间相信这些承诺对他们而言是有意义的。
而相对这些对外做出的承诺，我们或许可以借鉴，聆听下自己内心的世界，做一个自我承诺。
那什么是自我承诺呢？
自我承诺是指完全基于你自己内心所想而对自己做出的承诺。如果你没有遵守这个承诺，那么受伤害的也只有你自己。而事实上除了你自己，根本不会有别人知道还有这样的一个承诺。
做出自我承诺，意味着你给自己确定了一个目标，并采取实际行动希望可以实现它。类似减肥，戒掉坏习惯或是对自己的规划有个清晰的认识，这些都可以是自我承诺的目标。相对之下，你对工作所做的一些承诺就是外在的，因为如果你没有实现这些承诺，你就可能被老板炒鱿鱼。而如果你忘记了朋友的生日，尤其是非常重要的朋友，那么你可能辗转反侧，自责长叹而无法入眠。
由此，你可以看出外在承诺和自我承诺有多么不一样了。
那么为什么我们要自我承诺呢？
当我们做出一个自我承诺的时候，意味着我们希望全力以赴实现它，而不仅仅是告诉自己尝试一下，失败也无所谓。当你对自我做出承诺的时候，说明你已经意识到自我存在的重要性，就像你所追求的那些外在目标和责任一样，你对自己也承担了一份责任。当你有了这样的一份自我承诺，你会更为努力的工作并且收获成功。因为当我们有这样的承诺约束自己时，我们对自己的追求会更为清晰，而这样离我们的目标就会更近，而无论目标是什么。
那么我们该如何自我承诺呢？
要记得，在做自我承诺的时候，也要很正式。一个有效的方式就是跟自己签订一份合同。把我们想要做的事情记在一张纸上，并写上我们对此的期望和哪些事情可以激励我们去实现这些目标，最后要记得在纸的最下方写上时间和我们自己的名字····
当然承诺并不意味着我们所写的一切都是无法变更的。总有些困难会使得我们无法按照既定的目标前行，但是我们必须相信这些困难都是暂时的，努力过后我们依旧可以回到原定的方向上。要知道我们自己是这份合同的缔造者，我们可以决定自己想要做的是什么，而我们不能做的又是什么。因此我们可以使它很容易实现也可以通过它让自己有个彻底的大变化。然而，我在此建议的是一开始我们还是需要实际一点，把承诺定的尽可能地简单一点，这样我们通过这些承诺的实现可以增进我们的信心，而进步也会越来越大。
而另外有趣的一点是我们可以自己为这些承诺的实现定一个时间期限。比如我们可以承诺在一个月或是2个星期甚至是一天内实现自己的目标，不管怎样时间总是可以由我们自己确定。在自我承诺的时候，我们可以给自己制定最完美的合同，等一段时间后，我们需要再来审视，看看自己有没有像设计的那样获得成功，从而对这个合同稍作修改以便更好地实现。这样，我们的进步就可以像预先计划地那样一点点积累。如果成功了，那么你可以感谢的人就是你自己，当然若是失败了，那么除了你自己，你也无需责备其他人。
毕竟在这个过程中没有人比你更了解你自己。
因此，我们来尝试一下。做一个自我承诺，跟自己签订一份合同，看看这能否给你的生活带来些许的不同。