Last week, I had a conversation with a close friend that made quite an impression on me.
We were talking about my business and she said something about how it seems to her that I’ve never fully committed to my business, at least not in the same way that she has seen me commit to my marriage and various other non-business activities.
I could feel the truth of that and yet, I had no idea what it meant, or what I would do differently if I were to fully commit.
She pointed me to an article on one of my favorite marketing blogs and suddenly I got it.
The internal (more feminine) piece of commitment.
Yes, I was fully committed in my heart to my business. Yes, my intentions (for it to thrive; to serve humankind; to benefit the world and my family) were all in place. And yes, I was even continuing with my daily practice of self-care, meeting fears as they arose, and interacting mindfully with whatever was happening in my internal world in relation to my business.
The external (more masculine) piece of commitment.
BUT (and this is a very large but) I had never fully committed to ‘serious, very active’ ________ that showed up in the external world – like consistent blogging, social media stuff, podcasting, whatever form that might take for me.
For me, the internal piece is easy. I love being at my altar, I love meditating, journaling, exploring the depths of my psyche, interacting with my shadow. That stuff is fun!
The external piece requires much more effort for me and tends to evoke much more anxiety as well.
My commitment.
However, at some point, if I truly am committed to my business and to the message I carry for the world, I have to step more into the external piece of commitment than I have in the past. I have to meet that anxiety and fear AS I’m consistently engaging in serious, very active external action.
Thanks to the combination of the discussion with my friend and the article above, this is exactly what I am now committing to doing.
For you:
What does commitment mean to you?
Take a moment and think about something that you fully committed to (a project, relationship…). How did that feel? What did you do to stay engaged? And, even more specifically, what were the concrete actions you took to demonstrate your commitment?
Yay! My commitment is to writing things that matter.
This is the action I took!
Editing and publishing this piece which I wrote a few days ago…
https://medium.com/@cheekyboots/2ba619352647
🙂
I love your commitment. Yay! And, thank you for sharing your message with us here. Your voice and your message is important and needs to be heard. Thank you.
Hey Larisa,
Wow, I have really struggled with commitment — to my business, and to my creative projects — in exactly the way you describe. I appreciate the way you broke it down into the components of masculine and feminine; I hadn’t thought of it that way, but it totally fits.
I committed to finishing a writing / biz project with Danielle, our Cycles of Wisdom
http://www.cyclesofwisdom.com
It helped to have a partner/collaborator, because I was accountable to someone. I think accountability, whether one works with a creative partner, business coach, writing group, or whatever, can help us stay on task with our commitments.
Thank you for writing this!
~Dena
It heartens me to hear I am not alone in this, Dena. Thank you!
I also appreciate your words on collaboration and accountability. That is something I am wanting to bring more and more into my business life as well.
Finally, CONGRATULATIONS on finishing Cycles of Wisdom!!! It is a valuable (and beautiful!) resource and I’m so happy the two of you followed through on your commitment to bring it into the world for us.
Hey sweetie!
I am finishing off my new website and I struggle with the concept of commitment.
There’s a part of me that feels I am committed to expressing what counts and that the medium I use changes from day to day – because of my creative, playful nature.
I mean there’s an internal consistency but this is not necessarily reflected on the external…So I am really grappling with a way that reflects my innate nature and will meet the ‘grown up’ needs of a business that wants to thrive.
I can’t do marketing for the sake of it – it has to feel free, expansive and loving. Tricky. What to do when variety is what makes you thrive and is actually part of one’s usp? ?
xx
Hi Leila!
It sounds to me like you are fully committed to what matters most to you – to your creative self-expression in the moment. I hear you about needing variety in order to thrive. What if that were to be the basis for your ‘marketing’? We have access to so many ways/mediums to express ourselves these days and my sense is that there is no *one* right way. Why not use them all – in whatever playful way your heart is pulling you in the moment?
xo
Witnessing your commitment.
I hadn’t thought of it in terms of commitment, but I realized recently that while I have always been committed to my business externally, and also internally, I hadn’t been communicating my commitment to my business. (By which I mean, I often threatened to give it up when I was frustrated/annoyed/… with it.) And I thought about what it might be like to be on the other side of that dynamic. So, I apologized, and expressed my commitment.
Thank you for witnessing, Elizabeth. 🙂
And, I love your new, gentler commitment to how you communicate with your business. Beautiful!