Authentic “All In” Commitment

“At the moment of commitment, the entire universe conspires to assist you.” This is a quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It resonates with the same timeless truth as when it was written in the 1700s. There’s a difference between making a decision, making a commitment and making an authentic “all in” commitment. It’s a process. Making an authentic “all in” commitment is not something you do every day. Making decisions about something big is not ever easy. Decisions like that are scary because they involve risk.

New year resolutions, goal setting and renewal of vows are popular this time of year but are not all the same thing. An authentic “all in” commitment is a private event, between you and the universe, that you know you have made because you can feel it. You probably feel fear, but you do it anyway, because you’re “all in.” You feel fear but you do not feel doubt about your decision. Only you know for sure when the entire universe is conspiring to assist you because you begin to connect with the exact right people and information in ways that are so unique to you, so unlikely to happen that they feel more like miracles than anything that could resemble a mere coincidence.

What does authentic mean?

au·​then·​tic | Authentic is defined as: not false or copied; genuine; real; representing one’s true nature or beliefs; true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character

In the words of Oprah Winfrey, “I had no idea that being my authentic self could make me so rich. Otherwise, I’d have done it a lot earlier.”

For most people, the bronze ring may come around multiple times in your life but the gold ring doesn’t necessarily come around very often. When you recognize the gold ring, the thing to do is to grab onto it and do not let it go. If we choose to listen, we are all equipped with a sophisticated internal guidance system that allows us to recognize the gold ring when it comes around. Things that are hard require an authentic commitment. Nobody can recognize the gold ring for another person and nobody can make an authentic commitment for another person.

The Power of I Am

Sometimes I hear new people who come to work here at our virtual call center proclaim, “I AM going to make this work. This is what I’ve been looking for.” I can hear their words but more importantly, I can feel the strength of their commitment through their I AM statement. High income working from home is the gold ring for some people. The ones who succeed are the ones who are “all in.” Cold calling is hard and working from home is hard, harder than it looks. Anything short of “all in” is likely to fail akin to what happens with college freshmen washing out in their freshman year. Commitment to a college education is worthy but difficult and the failure rate is high, around 40%. Things that are hard require an “all in” commitment.

A True Story -When the Universe Conspired to Make It Happen

This true story has nothing to do with business, but it does have to do with commitment and love. This story is about a man named Harry who was approaching his 70^th birthday. He had a son, Dale, a daughter, Pat, and a daughter in law, Tracie. The daughter and the daughter in law wanted to create a special 70^th birthday experience for “the dad,” however, that was not easy because Harry was a man who had everything.

Pat discovered a box of old photos in the attic which is how they came to learn that Harry’s mother was in two movies in the 1940s. Dale and Pat never knew their grandmother because she died long before they were born. The photos in the box were well preserved and signed by the Hollywood movie producer and the big stars from the movie. Many were famous stars that we still know today. For example, Jack Haley, the guy who played the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz was the leading man.

Pat had the idea to organize the photos in an album and surprise “the dad” for his birthday. He would have long since forgotten about those photos. The daughter in law had the idea to obtain the video of the movie to accompany the photo album. But these were the days before the internet. They were stumped about how to accomplish getting the video of a movie made in the 1940s.

The daughter in law happened to pick up the TV guide and saw that the movie was playing on TV right at that very moment. So, they turned on the TV and there was their grandmother singing with Frank Sinatra. It happened to be Frank Sinatra’s movie debut. The movie was a musical so there was a lot of singing. What a way to meet your grandmother! So, they quickly recorded the movie and that’s how they surprised “the dad” for his special birthday.

Harry said it was the best birthday he ever had. Was it a coincidence that a movie from the 1940s was playing on TV right at the very moment the grandchildren wanted the video of it for a special birthday some 50 years later? Or was it the universe conspiring to assist us?

Making the decision is the hard part. Indecision and doubt are like the static on the radio when trying to tune into a channel too far away. The moment of commitment clears the channel and activates the magic. That was me in the story. I was that daughter in law. I know that we were all, “all in” including the grandmother. After that experience, could there be any doubt about the power of authentic “all in” commitment? Not for me. I believe.