Interested or Committed?

By Raymont Harris, author of Control The Controllables

“Are you interested, or are you committed?”

My strength coach at Ohio State, Dave Kennedy, put that question in front of me. I still come back to it.

It’s easy to say you want something. I wanted to play. I wanted to succeed. Ask me about my goals and I had an answer.

But what was I willing to DO?

That question gets harder when you’re tired. When you’re frustrated. When you’ve been doing what you’re supposed to do and the results still haven’t shown up.

You start negotiating with yourself.

I’ll do it tomorrow.

I’ve got too much going on.

Once things settle down.

I know those conversations. I’ve had them with myself.

And after football, I had a whole new set of reasons to have them. I’d spent years knowing my role, knowing what I was working toward. Then I had to figure out who I was without football.

There were no fans watching that part.

I wanted answers. I wanted to know what came next. I had to keep moving while I figured it out, and that was uncomfortable.

Commitment is continuing to do what the work requires after it stops being convenient.

Sometimes the work is asking for help. Having the conversation you keep avoiding. Admitting you’re struggling instead of making everybody guess.

You can spend a lot of energy trying to work around something you know you need to face.

I’ve done that too.

So when I ask, “Are you interested, or are you committed?” I’m asking myself right along with you.

What have you been putting off?

What can you do about it today?