Put your money where your mouth is...do you really have a problem with commitment?

In conversations, when I tell people I teach martial arts, I often receive the reply, “That sounds brilliant...I have always wanted to learn something like that!”

To this I politely invite them to the next available class we have, all the time knowing that there is a massive gap between people´s statements in conversation and actual elicited behaviours.

Sure enough the at next class (the one to which they were invited) they are conspicuous by their absence, victim again to the divide between thought and action.

Having a dream is fantastic. Knowing you want something great is awesome. However, to randomly quote Harry Styles, “A dream is just a dream until you decide to make it real.” Bruce Lee (quoting Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) once professed “Knowing is not enough. We must apply.

Willing is not enough. We must do.” Harry, Bruce and good old Wolfgang all understood one sacred immutable truth of the universe, unless you commit to making something happen, nothing actually happens. Your dream, your vision, your values and your beliefs are only as good as the actions you undertake. The idea will always stay an awesome idea, until you begin to make it happen.

The graveyard is full of souls who took their dreams with them when they passed. The world is equally full of armchair heroes who hide behind their social media facade, pouring scorn of the efforts of others. These poor, misguided souls are particularly present in the field of combat sports and martial arts. Individuals who are fully ready to provide an opinion in respect of the achievement, or performance of others, yet have never venture foot inside a ring/cage or indeed a decent martial arts class.

“All the gear and no idea!” as a friend of mine once said concerning the increasing volume of older middle aged wannabe triathletes. However the thing is here that these wannabes are trying their luck. They are actually stepping forward and putting their money where their mouth is. It may well be the case that they will never be superstars but they had an idea and began to turn that idea into reality. Now this is relatively low level stuff, no doubt about it and yet every single highly successful person started with just an idea. What made the significant difference here was their commitment to that idea. Thomas Eddison (inventor of the humble light bulb) was once quoted as saying “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration!”. Thomas again confirming that the need to commit and not waiver in pursuit of that dream is what truly separates high performing successful people, from those who literally took their dreams to the grave!

In this we are never guaranteed success in anything we do. All life is a series of informed guesswork and chance. However, if we can clearly see what it is we want. If we can clearly picture how it will feel to achieve this, what it will look like, how it will sound etc. then we are placed soundly on the right path. The next step is indeed to commit with all your heart to making that reality yours. Every action you take will draw you closer to that dream, even setbacks become positive here as they teach you that you were not going the right way at that specific moment. That setback isn´t failure, it´s feedback on what you need to change to make it work better for the future. That glorious person Thomas Eddison was also quoted as saying, “Many of life´s failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up.” I am with you Thomas Eddison. I hear you and I get you. Commit to the idea. Stay the course and make it happen. Intention coupled with action makes you an unstoppable force. Simply commit….you´ll feel better for it!