Volume 1, Issue 7

Decide, Commit, Believe

Welcome to 2005!

As you well know, the end of the old year triggers the uncontrollable desire to make resolutions. The annual urge to change old habits and adopt new activities, is as predictable as Christmas itself.

Equally predictable however, is the high percentage of people who will fail to keep their resolutions. And the age old question is why?

I believe resolutions fail because for the most part they lack a fundamental ingredient – the decision. A decision is not a goal, nor is it a casual promise. The word decision comes from the Latin root decidere, which means to cut off from. So.. making a decision to change some aspect of your life means that you are cutting off the very possibility of not succeeding.

I know two things for sure:

Changing habits and old ways of thinking isn’t easy and without fully committing to doing what it takes, we won’t succeed.
A committed decision inspires action, and being in action delivers results!
When you make, and connect with, your committed decision, you will have more focus, clarity, purpose, inspiration and motivation than you’ve ever experienced before.

Yes, we’re almost through January, but even if you’ve already started down the resolution path, you still have time to ensure that you will succeed.

To achieve this year’s resolutions, ensure that the following elements are part of your commitment:

Make your decision conscious, a real declaration. Ask yourself, will this decision spur me into action and help me stay committed?
Build your Commitment. Identify why you want whatever it is you are committing to. Make a list. If you are not fully committed to your decision, you may falter when challenges arise.
Believe – The very fact that you can conceive something in your mind, and believe that you can do it means that you can. (A great book for strengthening your belief is "The Greatest Miracle in the World" by Og Mandino.)
Be Fear Less – Use Nelson Mandela’s 1995 inaugural speech to spur you on when challenges arise:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our Light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the Glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own Light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”