Have you ever been interested in making a change or up leveling your skills, but get discouraged when you don’t see results? You might try reading a book on influence or get a sample plan for a running routine and then, drop off a few weeks in because nothing changed? Lots of variables can impact your good intentions. You could fall off the wagon for many reasons but none as impactful as the fact that you were merely interested in a change. Your interest in something only makes you think about it, or at best, dabble. When you’re interested, you take action in a trial state of mind. However, if you’re committed, the changes becomes part of your identity. You aren’t sampling a running routine, you are a runner. You aren’t reading about leadership, you are a leader. So, my question is, are you interested or committed? If you’re not sure, take a look at your results and your habits and let them tell you. (Hey, if you hate reading, you can get this same content on YouTube. Click here!)
Interested in running, and gaining weight
One of my high school basketball coaches complimented my running when I was about 16. Our school was very small and we didn’t have a track or cross country team but he told me that if we did, I would be a stand out. I held on to that for years. As I went into college I took a wellness class that focused on running and went for runs periodically. When people would ask I’d say, I’d like to be a runner but, we didn’t have cross country where I went to school.
I’d go for a run and then eat a cheese burger. Or I’d skip a week of any sort of workout and tell the story, that I could have been a stand out. Then I’d run a mile just to prove it was still possible. Then I’d run for three days straight, and take 2 weeks off because I got a cold. At the time, I was interested in running. To say I was dabbling even feels like a stretch. Sure, I would run sometimes but I was by no means committed to it. The slightest reason to pull away from the identity of a runner would cause me to fall off.
When I committed, everything changed.
Years later I had fallen away from running quite a bit and maybe jogged a mile or two once or twice a week. I would say, I run sometimes, but I’m not a runner. After accidentally running 5 miles (that’s a different article, you can find here) I started to remember that coach’s words. When I signed up for my first 1/2 marathon I was still just dabbling in training until my sister reminded me that I am a runner. If I’m running, I’m a runner. She wasn’t telling me to run more, run longer, run faster. I didn’t get any information from this multi-marathoner at all. She was simply changing my commitment by changing my identity.
Suddenly it became more difficult to skip a run than it was to head out for a 8-10 mile stretch. Running anything under 4 miles started to feel like it could be a sprint. Rather than seeing what would be inconvenient about going for a run I started to plan my day around it. I was a runner, so I committed to running, end of story.
Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com
Are you interested or committed to professional growth?
A similar thing happened with a leader I worked with who came from a toxic work culture. She was sort of ‘brought up’ in a work culture that prized sitting at your desk for 10-12 hours per day. Scouring notes looking for any opportunity to push sales. She was expected to make endless cold calls and focus on hitting revenue goals over anything else. It was taking it’s tole on her mentally, socially, and physically. So, she decided to look for a position leading a team. She wanted to lead a similar sales team in another organization. She was very interested in getting results with a positive work environment and culture.
After she found the right position for her, she focused first and foremost in creating the work environment for her team that she had always wanted. She committed to supporting her team. She was interested in achieving revenue goals with culture at the forefront. Her commitment to the team resulted in her working the same long hours, scouring their notes for opportunities, even made some of the calls herself to make sure they didn’t feel the same pressure she had. Her pain in her back, hip, and wrist from never leaving her desk continued.She realized she needed help, and thought I’d tell her how to get her team to get results. She thought her success hinged on knowing the right information. Except that she already knew how to get results. It wasn’t about the information. What she needed was a commitment to leading results and culture.
Knowledge isn’t power, application is
You will get nowhere with simple interest in getting results. Interest motivates you to learn more. You might read the book or watch a YouTube video and try some things out but most people won’t apply it. Let’s use another example. You might be interested in the health benefits of drinking more water. That interest may cause you to google or ask ChatGPT how much water you need. It might even cause you to buy a giant Stanley cup. It isn’t until you identify as someone who drinks a gallon of water a day that you truly start drinking water like your life depends on it day after day. It’s that action, that application, that commitment that leads to results. The interest just leads to dabbling.
I was interested in running. That interest had me running a couple miles a week sporadically. She was interested in culture. Her interest resulted in more stress around how she wasn’t creating it for her team. It wasn’t until we each committed to what we wanted that we saw the results we wanted to achieve. For me, locking into the identity of a runner had me run over 600 miles in less than a year and got me in the best shape of my life. For this client, commitment to the culture and results had her exceeding revenue goals in half the time with a team that had each other’s back personally and professionally from all sides of the country.
Commitment breeds endurance, in more than just the miles
Was I less of a person when I was dabbling in running? No, running didn’t make me more valuable. Just like exceeding revenue goals didn’t make my client more valuable as a person. What it did was change the standard for life in general. When I fell into the identity of someone who was interested in a few things I was more likely to give up. I was more likely to try and then move on. When I committed, my tolerance for dabbling in other areas reduced. Your level of commitment will impact more than what you committed to. When my client committed to leading results and culture she got her health back. Once she locked in as a leader she saw the importance of leading in all aspects of life for her team. She started going for walks during the day. Focusing on eating and drinking water to fuel her body rather than relying on Diet Coke to pull her through. Within a few months she even had cultivated the energy to start renovating her house in the evenings.
This is a, all the ships rise with the tide, situation
Your level of commitment to an identity spills over. When I committed to running I got better sleep, my house was cleaner, my kids were happier, and I felt generally more fulfilled. Was all of that because I was running a certain amount of miles? No. It was because I committed to an identity. That identity had a standard above what I was used to. I was no longer merely dabbling, I was locking in to a new identity. You can lock in too. When you commit to a new identity that increases your standard for yourself you transform into someone of a higher caliber. What will you lock into to become the next level of you? I would love to explore what is possible on the other side of this transformation with you. Click here and let’s set some time to discuss it.