More on committing:

“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. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.

A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.”
— W.H. Murray, mountaineer

“Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.”
— Tom Robbins, author

“Looking back, all the time and steps I took to make that decision were really about getting ready to make and keep a commitment.”

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As I wrote this last week, I realized that the line between deciding and committing is very, very fine. Once you’ve decided, you have to commit to act upon the decision. Because a decision without a commitment is pretty pointless.

Committing takes away excuses and escape routes and simultaneously frees up energy to go after what you want. It also brings energy toward you. You’re no longer a moving target. The universe knows your address and it can find and send things your way. Mentors, classes, fans, resources and opportunities (yes, sometimes even money *smile*).

And, committing makes future decisions easier. With each subsequent decision, you need only ask, “Does this align with what I’ve already decided?”

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Of course, committing takes courage. And discipline.

Over 100 posts ago, I decided to write this blog about spontaneous singing. I freely admit I had no idea how to do it. I barely had my web site online and I don’t think I’d even heard of WordPress.

I wasn’t even really sure why I was doing it. I just knew I wanted to explore the life lessons I was learning from improv. And I decided that I wanted to share what I found out with others.

Six months ago, I decided (and committed) to add another weekly post — the Friday Food for Thought posts — to my posting schedule. Without commitment (and discipline), many of the posts on this blog would not have been written. (This 2am post certainly would not have been written! *smile*)

That’s the beauty of committing. Commitments make us figure it out. Commitments make us follow through. Commitments make us undertake new challenges and work through old ones. Commitments help us stay on course.

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Sometimes we confuse failing to commit with making bad decisions. If something doesn’t come together (or worse — falls apart), we might say “I never should have tried do that in the first place.” This might be true, but before we fault our decisions, we might want to look at how well we commit.

More on deciding:

“Nothing happens until you decide.”
— Dr. Stanley Turecki
(Hmm … looks like we’ve mistakenly been giving Oprah Winfrey credit for this quote.)

“You’ve got a lot of choices. If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you’re not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice.”
— Steven D. Woodhull

“Make decisions from the heart and use your head to make it work out.”
—Sir Girad

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Remember: Songtaneous is tomorrow –  Saturday, October 10.
Visit the Events page to see the entire Songtaneous schedule.