If you want to start getting results in your life, you have to understand the power of commitment.
Commitment is a force that can drive you and keep you consistent towards achieving any goal. You must learn how to use it if you want success in business or life.
Consistency and commitment go hand in hand.
Even if they are two separate psychological rules, they are deeply intertwined.
That’s why commitment sets consistency in motion.
We want to be seen as consistent people. Because we want to build a character around trustworthiness, reliability, and being a rational person, that’s why consistency and commitment are so important in our lives.
When I first told my Facebook community that I want to start a podcast, I felt such a big responsibility on my shoulder. “I can’t get back now. I have to create that podcast.” So I started documenting the entire process. I shared with them how I recorded the first episodes, how I bought the website’s domain, how many episodes I want to record, and when I will launch it.
I couldn’t get back and say, “Ok, I don’t want to do it anymore,” or just ignore that message.
The fact that I shared with them my idea made me committed to the idea of starting a podcast.
Once I commit to the idea, I dig in my heels and stay consistent with that commitment.
How to stay close to your commitment?
I won’t tell you big secrets. I will tell you what I’ve done to be committed to my podcast and deliver consistently every two weeks, one episode.
Make commitment public
I already told you that I shared on my Facebook the idea of launching a podcast show. Back in 2017, when podcasting in my country, Romania, wasn’t such a big deal. So after I told my community about this idea, I felt it like a responsibility to start that show.
Public commitments create a more lasting change for individuals.
But if you don’t want to share it publicly on social media channels with your friends and followers, you can quickly tell your next project to a few friends. Tell them that you want to do this and make them responsible for asking you sometimes how you are doing with it.
When you publicly state an intention, you are much less likely to change your mind later.
Document your progress
After publicly declaring that I want to start that podcast, I felt the need to share my progress with them. I knew that it would take a few months before I finish the entire project to get ready to be launched, so I started documenting my whole process. That’s why I love the idea of “documenting the progress”- because it makes me so much vulnerable and responsible to be committed to my work.
So every week, I shared my work with them. Even if I had only finished one task, three tasks, or more. I shared with them how it works, what I have accomplished, and what should be my next step.
I documented the entire progress of launching the project because it helped me be committed to my podcast.
Use the foot-in-the-door technique on your own
Think about a small task. You are committed to that small task, and you are consistent with it. But if you want to improve your project and you want to get more significant results, you need to get that foot-in-the-door – as in – committed to a more substantial task.
What is the foot-in-the-door (FITD) technique?
When you start with a small/modest request then follow up later with a more significant request, you can have bigger chances of succeeding with the more substantial demand.
JONATHAN L. FREEDMAN and SCOTT C. FRASER wrote a study where they showed that when asking residents to put up a small “Drive Carefully” sign in their yard – the FITD technique – and then later they asked to put up a more significant sign was more successful (76% compliance) compared to asking residents directly to share a more substantial sign from the start (<20%).
So how can you use this in your commitment?
By starting at the beginning with smaller tasks, then move forward with more significant changes.
And these are only three simple ideas that I used on my own before I launched my podcast.
And guess what, sometimes I still use it because it makes me consistent with my work and makes progress as a professional.
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