• A good friend of mine called me this past week and said that she was interested in writing a book. She thought of me because she knew that I had done some writing in the past and she wanted to get some guidance. She’d been thinking about it for a while and had a bunch of ideas, some of which she jotted down on note pads scattered throughout her work desk. After speaking with her for a few minutes, I agreed to review some of her writing and asked her to submit two pages every Friday. She said that this was a really bad time for her and that she couldn’t make that kind of commitment right now. So, I respectfully responded, “thank you for thinking of me but I can’t help you. If you can’t make a commitment then you’re not that serious about getting it done.” She thought about it for a minute and then did a 180 on me and agreed to submit the work requested every week.

    I tell you this story because many of us come up with brilliant ideas and activities that we’d like to pursue and often discuss them with our friends and family. We get encouraged when we hear them say, “Wow that’s a great idea. You should do something with that.” So, we may even go as far as making a resolution to pursue them, which we follow for a week or so and then allow them to fall by the wayside. For some reason, many of us think that we’ll be so motivated by our idea that we’ll somehow make time to fit it in during the day, only to find out down the line that it never happens. Unfortunately, humans are lazy by nature and are creative at coming up with excuses to put things off. And if you think you’re too busy to pursue something, I assure you that there’s always someone out there who’s busier but somehow finds time to pursue their passion. Most of the time it turns out to be a hit or miss as to when we get around to those activities. And then it’s like starting all over again every time. This includes exercise, creative interests (reading, writing, playing an instrument), financial goals and even going out with our spouse or loved ones. We make some progress and then get down on ourselves a few months down the road because we let it go.

    While the ideas are inspiring and the intentions behind them are great, they fail because they are lacking one key ingredient: commitment! And the only way to do this is to put it on your schedule and make it a mandatory part of your day. That’s the first step to building long-term success. Otherwise, expecting the end result right now, can be overwhelming. One step at a time! Then, when you look back at your daily activities in a few months, you’ll be able to appreciate your progress. Stop blaming others for opportunities that you may have missed and take control by climbing that first step in front of you. Schedule it every day and accept the fact that there will never be a perfect time when all the stars will be perfectly aligned. It’s perfect when you make time for it! If you don’t think you have the time then it’s not really as important to you as you think. It’s not easy because if it were then everyone would be successful. So, schedule it and do it or stop talking about it!