Commitment

Location: The intersection of Weber and Wellington in Kitchener

Description: A road under construction with various signs nearby, the most prominent saying "No Access to Margaret Ave." On the left most sign it reads "Duration: May 10, 2010 to September 30, 2010"; it's November 6th today and work has halted leaving no sidewalks and the road unpaved.

Story: Commitment is all about saying something and then doing it. It can be a hard thing to do especially if the commitment is long term; the more time that's involved, the more a situation can change and become difficult to predict.

For some, commitment is a scary thing. They don't know if they can do it and so they say they can't, or preface their attempt with "I don't know if this will work, but I'll try." It's especially terrifying if it's long term, because if they don't know themselves now, how can they expect to know what they'll do in the future?

To commit to something and follow through you need three basic things: to know yourself, to know what's required of you, and to know that you'll continue to do it after the initial feelings (usually excitement) have worn off.

The first might be the hardest. To know who you are is a difficult thing, and many people don't invest time to learn about who they are. Will you fight or flee? Do you love to sing karaoke, or just like getting attention? Is it really important to you that people remember your birthday? Luckily you don't need to know everything about yourself to commit to something, only your feelings and abilities related to the given task.

Knowing what the task involves is fairly easy. Just ask the other person or learn about the task more, so you know what to expect. Doing research here is critical as miscommunication or ignorance could mean problems in the future. It's really easy though and you can usually take some time to learn more. Fortunately, a lot of things you'll already know immediately from experience, like how long it takes you to get ready for a date. So long as you keep your head about you, it's straightforward.

The last step is the most variable. Some commitments are quick, such as saying you'll do the laundry today, so you don't have to worry about the situation drastically changing. However there are longer commitments like marriage or tattoos that require a lot more thought. If you plant a garden in the spring, you have to commit to weeding, watering, and nurturing it throughout the season if you want a good harvest in the fall. Are you willing to give some time every week to help your plants grow? Are you determined to see that seed become a prize-winning pumpkin?

Take a few minutes today and try to count to one hundred. You've probably already done it once in your life, and it shouldn't take more than two minutes. Now count to one thousand. It might take you a half hour, maybe a full hour, but stick with it. It's not a big commitment, but it's a start. Doing little tests like these will help you understand more about who you are and how committed you are to your goals.

(As a bonus, if you counted at one number per second nonstop, here's how long it would take you to count to...
10 - 10 seconds
100 - Under two minutes, or less time than it took you to read this blog post
1,000 - 17 minutes
10,000 - Under three hours, or six minutes a day for a month
100,000 - One day and four hours
1,000,000 - Just over 11.5 days, or about 45 minutes a day for a year
Let us know if anyone gets to ten thousand or more! Good luck!)