Passion, Commitment & Results

chicken or the egg? the question applies to just more than poultry, or breakfast, depending on which you think came first. which comes first, commitment or results?

in order to succeed at anything, we need to be committed, but often we first want some guarantee of result before we want to commit to anything. which we choose to come first, will depend on which area of our lives we’re talking about. but should it be that way?

starting a new job, for example. do we commit to the new job even if do not know what the future will hold for us there? trick is, if we don’t commit, the job will probably never work out anyway. at the first sign of trouble, the unsteady and doubting foundation which we set for ourselves on embarking the journey doesn’t offer any support. if anything, it will convince us even the more to abandon the cause. had we committed from the word go however, any sign of trouble will be percieved as opportunity to grow. results and success are inevitable.

it can be argued however, that signs of trouble do represent real trouble and we need to be cautious in not overcompensating by ignoring any “signs”. but this is not the topic at hand. i do concede that not everything is or should be an opportunity to grow. but the focus of this piece is the relationship between commitment and success.

extending the job commitment scenario, let’s look at relationships. do we commit to a relationship, not knowing what to fully expect? And thereby, because of our willingness to commit, the relationship succeeds and overcomes all challenges? Or do we wait for the relationship to show signs of promise on its own before deciding to commit? Question is: can a relationship show any sign of promise just on its own without any commitment by both parties to, at the very least, for example, commit to making each other a priority in their respective lives?

and then in spritual matters. does our religion have to offer us some sort of return-on-investment [time, money, emotion] and show good future prospects before we decide to fully commit to it? or is it possible to commit to it first, and in doing so, live and breathe the principles that, hopefully, lead us into a richer awareness of what it means to truly be alive?

so where does commitment come from? passion.

passion drives us to making a commitment. it won’t neccessarily sustain our commitment but can ignite from time to time [i’m referring to voluntary and not that fear-based or co-erced commitments]. that passion or desire [love?] in the moment of the commitment gives us the courage to make the commitment to things unknown, or rather, not yet known. but with the commitment in place, results and success are inevitable.

so where does passion come from? the heart? gut feeling? something needs to spark up and give rise to passion which will fuel the readiness to commit. and then there’s that other bit of trickery that goes on: that passionate feeling doesn’t last forever. the sparks fade relatively quickly, as sparks do. how do we make it linger through the range and bombardment of emotions and choices we face each day?

sustaining a particular emotion over an extended period of time requires a combination of physical, chemical and cognitive energy. how we manage to do that is each to our own little secret to living happy lives. and then there’s always this to consider: a passion that fades in the face of adversity- was that really a pure passion [versus fancy] or is it just passion under testing and how important is it to you [truthfully] to pursue?

maybe why we give up so easily on tasks, paths or journeys we set for themselves is because we’re choosing the ones that aren’t dripping with passion. and because there’s no passion, we don’t want to, we can’t, commit. and because we’re not committed, we fail when we hit a rough spot.

conversely, if we choose journeys of passion, we will commit to them 100% and through that commitment, we’ll reach the levels of success possible within that path. be it job, relationship, spritual or communal…