Hello everyone and welcome to the Redefining High Performance podcast. My name is Ty Bennett and this week I want to talk to you about what I believe is the most important ingredient to achieve any goal. I want you to think about it because if you’re listening to this, I bet you have goals. I have goals. We all have goals we’re going after. Maybe it’s building a business. Maybe it’s to lose weight. Maybe it’s your family, your finances, or something that you want to become.
Whatever the goal, There’s one thing that makes the difference between wishing and actually achieving. This ingredient is commitment. One of my favorite mantras of all time is the saying that when you’re interested, you do what’s convenient. When you’re committed, you do whatever it takes. I love that mantra. When you’re interested, you do what’s convenient. When you’re committed, you do whatever it takes. That phrase is so true because the higher the level of your commitment, the more likely you are to follow through and achieve something meaningful.
And that brings us to what I call the commitment scale. Four levels of commitment. And so I want to share this with you today in this podcast. And as I do so, one, I hope it’s insightful. I hope that it gives you some thoughts around commitment. But two, I want you to assess where you are on the commitment scale. Think about the things that you’re going after or that you want to go after And where does your commitment fall? Because that’s going to be a separator. That’s going to be a difference between thinking and hoping and wishing and praying and dreaming about something that you could go after and actually achieving those things. Your commitment matters.
So let’s start with level one. Level one, the lowest level is the level of distraction. Most people live their lives here. They suffer from what I like to call shiny object syndrome. They’re headed in one direction and then something catches their attention and boom, their focus is over here and then something else picks up, catches the corner of their eye and they turn their focus in another direction. It’s hard to really go after anything when you’re constantly shifting focus, when you’re constantly moving in whatever direction you’re being pulled, when you’re reactive versus proactive. Everything becomes a distraction. And here’s the truth. All distractions are equal. It doesn’t really matter if it’s something good because if it keeps us from going after our goal, it’s a distraction. So this level, the distraction level, it feels very busy, but it’s not very productive, right? If you stay here, then goals remain dreams because the energy is always scattered. and not focused, concentrated and moving towards your goal. And so we need to move to level two.
Level two on the commitment scale is decision. The word decision means to cut off all other options. If we make a decision, that means we plant our flag and we say, this is what I’m going to do. Here’s the thing. Decision is a great step forward, but we have to then put in the daily practice to follow through on that decision. I’m sure at some point we’ve all made a decision like, I’m going to lose weight. But if we don’t follow through on that, right? If I’m going to run a marathon, but if we don’t actually start training, I’m going to build a business. But if we don’t actually do those daily things, make those phone calls, those are the daily actions. The decision fades. Making a decision is easier. Managing a decision is harder. And so decision is process. progress. It’s a step beyond distraction, but it won’t carry you to the finish line.
To move to another level, level three, this is discipline. The third level is discipline. Discipline means that you follow through with those daily actions that are required to move that decision forward, to move towards that goal. I just gave you an example, running a marathon. So you’re putting in the miles every single day. Right? There’s a training program in place. If you’re going to grow your business, the discipline, the daily actions looks like making phone calls, building systems, right? Following through with consistency. This is where that consistency principle comes into play. One of the biggest drivers we found in our research of high performance was consistency showing up every single day. That doesn’t mean it has to be grandiose. Like you’re knocking it out of the park, doing monumental things every day, but that consistency compounds. So discipline is where rubber meets the road. Discipline builds momentum. It moves from intention to progress. But even discipline isn’t the top level.
This is level three. Level four, so we go from distraction to decision to discipline. Level four is devotion. The highest level of commitment is devotion. Some people might call it obsession, but it’s devotion. The great tenor Luciano Pavarotti was once asked about And he said, most people think I’m disciplined. I’m not. I’m devoted. And you see, there’s a huge difference. When you are devoted, devotion goes beyond discipline. Devotion means you’re willing to do whatever it takes. It’s not just about checking the box every day. It’s about giving your heart to your goal. It’s about fully showing up. This is where you are obsessed. You’re devoted to create something, to be be something, to deliver in a huge way.
One of my favorite poems by the poet Goethe, the German poet, I think encapsulates this idea. He said, concerning all acts of initiative in creation, there’s but one elementary truth, that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. And all sorts of events begin to occur, which otherwise would not have occurred, which no man would dream would come his way. I think that when you are devoted, the world works to support you. The universe tries to help you move forward. I think it’s attractive. I think you draw people to you. I think that when we see somebody like that, we go, I want to support their cause. I want to join their crusade. I want to write because that level of commitment doesn’t happen very often. It’s rare. And it’s incredible. It’s the kind of commitment that changes things. When you’re interested, you do what’s convenient. When you’re committed, you do whatever it takes. That’s devotion.
So let me ask you this. Where are you on the commitment scale? Are you stuck in distraction? Right? I think we all get there sometimes. And our world right now, it is very easy to be distracted. There is a lot going on, a lot of conversation, a lot of opinion, a lot of angst and emotion, right? That can be very distracting. Have you made a decision but not followed through? We’re all guilty of this. I’m guilty of this too, right? It’s like, I want this, but what does the daily discipline look like? Are you living with discipline? Are you putting in that effort? Or have you actually crossed over to true devotion where there’s something driving you? There’s something in your heart. There’s something that people can see. There’s something that people can feel. When we move up the commitment scale, we give ourselves the opportunity to actually go from dreaming to achieving, from wishing to putting things in practice to creating something great. High performers understand the commitment scale and they’re constantly working to manage their level of commitment, focus, devotion to what it is they’re trying to achieve. This week, as you think about the goals in your life, I want you to assess it against the commitment scale. See where you’re at and work on moving up in that commitment. Find some people who can support you in that process, but become truly devoted. I think that’s where you make the biggest impact. Thank you for joining me on today’s redefining high performance podcast. I love sharing these quick, short episodes with you. Hopefully you make it part of just, you know, your weekly practice, just a quick little on the car ride. You’re listening to this or, you know, working out or just in a break, go on a little walk, something like that. I appreciate you listening. And I hope that this brings value to your life. If it does, Please give us a rating, a review, subscribe, share this with somebody else. But I will bring one of these to you every single week and I look forward to talking to you again next week. Thank you so much.