[November 9, 2018] The only limit to your impact on any undertaking is your commitment to the dream. Success in life runs along a meandering, twisted path that eludes most people. Only those who have commitment to walking on that path are those who will achieve want they dream.
“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes … but no plans.” – Peter Drucker, American management consultant
If you’re not committed to your ambitions, to your family and friends, to your God, or to your health, you will fail. There is no middle ground. Either you have commitment or you don’t. That is what distinguishes those who do great things and those who wonder throughout life blaming everyone else for their failures.
As a leader, how do we show we have commitment? If we don’t show it, those around us will assume we don’t have it and will act to minimize us from important decisions and growth. Here are 5 ways to clearly show you have what it takes:1
- Be a Team Player: The purpose of a team is to achieve a task. That task may be big (our mission is to win the war) or small (increase productivity by 5%). Regardless of its important, acting in concert with team members is how people will see you and see your commitment to the organization.
- Act on Feedback: Are you a serious team member? Then taking action based on constructive feedback is essential. This shows you care enough about the opinion of others to implement their suggestions. When it works, give them credit. When it fails, take the blame upon yourself.
- Don’t Ever Give Up: No matter how dark the situation seems, there is always hope. Hang in there to achieve the tasks assigned until told otherwise. Remember that the reason Great Britain exists today is because PM Winston Churchill never gave up on his people during WWII.
- Anticipate Needs: Those who are faithful to the team are also thinking about the future. There will always be problems so get with the program and try to figure out what the team may need a week from now, a year from now, and for the foreseeable future.
- Develop Yourself and Your Teammates: Take action to improve upon the social, technical, and educational skills of you and your teammates. This means taking care of people. This shows you value their contributions now and in the future.
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- This article is based, in part, on a blog post by Katie Dressler Nehl, CUDE published on LinkedIn, June 29, 2016. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-show-your-loyalty-commitment-workplace-katie-dressler/
Good list and thanks for sharing it with us, Gen. Satterfield. Those who will be most successful in their lives have these in their back pocket at all times.
Motivation and commitment are similar concepts. In my opinion, motivation can be externally or internally driven. When it’s internal we call it commitment.
Here’s a decent article on commitment in Psychology Today. The publication is a little whacko slanted to liberalism but it is still a good article. https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/shift-mind/200910/what-do-we-mean-commitment
I think we would all agree with past US President John F. Kennedy when he said, “Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.” The radicals among our mist need to understand this but they never will because they are so caught up in their ideology, nothing else matters.
Great quote, where’d you find it?
Under Brainy Quotes.
https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/commitment
Excellent quote. never heard it before but like it.
Nice! I’ll be putting this out to my HS classes today.
“You always have two choices; your commitment versus your fears.” by Sammy Davis, Jr. (one of my favorite singers). Commitment to anything matters most. You don’t have to be smart, strong or handsome/beautiful but you MUST have commitment and then work hard to follow through. That is the meaning of success.
Yes, I agree. This is also one of the key themes of this leadership blog by Gen. Satterfield.
I’ve been reading Doug Stanton’s new book ‘The Odyssey of Echo Company.’ Fairly new book published last year. It has many historical lessons of the unit which fought in Vietnam and prevailed under the most extreme circumstances. Bottom line, they had ‘commitment’ in spades. If anyone wants to get a real understanding of how commitment matters, then read this book.
When you don’t have a commitment to important things like your community, religion, democracy, family, etc., this is what you get: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/11/a-country-gone-half-mad.php
I agree. ‘Brown shit’ leftists are all in for violence if they don’t like the results of elections. Democracy in the US is going downhill and I blame both the crazy politicians and the media for stirring things up.
Great list of ways to show commitment.
I would add “loyalty” as one of the main ways also. If you’re not loyal, people will pick up on it quickly. Leaders will notice.
Good article today. Commitment is what gets me up in the morning and doing things that are hard.
Here some are committed to destroying thought they don’t like. I call it the new American fascism:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/11/leftist-mob-besieges-tucker-carlson.php
Commitment does matter. If you don’t have the mental attention to stick with something, then you cannot complete any task. As kids we were called “quitters” if we didn’t have commitment.
Good to see you back on for early comments.
Good to have you back.