The Power Of Making Your Commitment Known, Or Oh Shit, I Really Have To Do This Now!

I was planning to wait to share my commitment to Joy Discovered with the world until I had at least five Real Women Real Strength profiles published. But as I was making dinner for my boys last Friday night, the idea for a Facebook post announcing my blog came to mind. I jotted some notes in my phone and re-visited them the next morning while enjoying my signature grande nonfat no-whip cinnamon dolce latte at a quiet Starbucks. (When I say quiet, I mean the boys are home with dad this morning, so it’s just me and Naples’ coffee lovers quiet.) I drafted the post announcing what I’d been up to and hit share.

Why the change of heart?

Over the years I’ve learned to better listen to and follow my intuition, or what some people call their gut or heart. (I’ll address this more in an upcoming blog post!) My gut was telling me to publish the post. But there was a deeper reasoning at play.

Putting Joy Discovered out there and sharing my commitment to it with the world made me accountable. My friends and family know what I am doing and what my intentions are. I now have subscribers. (Holy crap, I have subscribers!! Thank you for joining the Joy Discovered community, by the way!) I can’t let them down.

When you commit to something, tell people about it.

I have been told many times that when you want to accomplish a goal, especially a personal one that isn’t tied to your work performance that your boss or team will hold you to, one of the most important things to do is tell people about it. It makes it real. It solidifies your commitment. People will ask you about it and it feels better to tell them about the progress you are making, rather than the fact that you haven’t taken any steps forward in the last week.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There is a lot of wind in my proverbial Joy Discovered sails right now. I am doing something I love that is giving back to the world. I have been brought to tears and in awe with each Real Women Real Strength interview I’ve done already – I’m so excited to share these with you!

But the truth is, fear and doubt continue to poke their heads at me as I move through the process of creating Joy Discovered. I think, who am I to take on a project like this? There are enough blogs in the world. I fear, how am I going to sustain the time that I am putting into creating this site – will it always give me so much joy? I think about all the little pieces that I have to put in place to make my profiles happen and my newsletters go out, and I get overwhelmed.

Take one step at a time towards your commitment.

Then I think about you, my dear readers, who I’ve made a commitment to. I read through the comments on my blog and Facebook posts and am reminded that Joy Discovered is already impacting people’s lives. And I go back to the mantra we focused on during our India trip when the overwhelming poverty, pollution, and feeling of helplessness seemed too much to bear: Let’s start with helping one child, which will make the whole trip worth it. And then we’ll help the next, and the next, and the next.

Sharing my learnings and the empowering stories of the beautiful women I profile in order to inspire other women in some way gives me joy. I’ve made an out-loud announcement of my commitment, therefore it’s real and holds me accountable. I will start by taking the first most important step, and then the next, and the next, and the next. That is how we accomplish our goals. That is how change occurs.

So tell us, now, what goal do you commit to? What’s the one small next step you can take towards making it happen?

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