Son, Dad is extremely tired and sleepy tonight … but I didn’t want to go to bed without leaving you a post.  When I set this blog up as ‘Daily Conversations with Dad,’ I really meant daily. And I intend to keep my word, for as long as I could.  That brings to mind something I wanted to you to learn, a quality I find so fundamental to a person’s success – commitment.

Commitment - the Gear Shift

Commitment makes life work. Commitment is the secret ingredient that translates our words and intentions into actions, which in turn bring about the results we experience in life. It’s like the ‘gear shift’ that distinguishes a Ferrari stuck at neutral (roaring loudly but going nowhere), from an engineering wonder fulfilling its potential as intended by its designer.

Without commitment, promises remain unfulfilled, dreams not made real, and life not fully lived out.  Without commitment, projects remain incomplete, goals unmet, and businesses fail.  Without commitment, conflicts remain unresolved, relationships stay broken, and families fall apart.

Commitment enables your mum and I to stick together for over 15 years, through thick and thin, goods times and bad.  And commitment enables her to wake up early every morning to send you to school, even on her worst days.  It is a force that is to be reckoned with, tapped into, and properly harnessed.

I want to share with you one of my favorite quotes on commitment from a passage taken from Scottish explorer W.H. Murray’s book, The Scottish Himalayan Expedition. Speaking of the beginning of his expedition, he expressed that they hadn’t done anything yet, but then clarifies:

But when I said that nothing had been done I erred in one important matter. We had definitely committed ourselves and were halfway out of our ruts. We had put down our passage money–booked a sailing to Bombay. This may sound too simple, but is great in consequence.

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.

A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.  I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!”

Today, I want you to think about something that you dream of doing or becoming, commit yourself fully to realising it, and begin it boldly but taking just one small step towards it. Now, go do it!

Love,

Your Committed Dad