Did You Really Commit? (written December, 1993)

I was speaking to my buddy Donnie B. a few weeks ago and we were talking about commitment. After speaking with him for 15 minutes or so, I asked him to write down his ideas so I could develop an article about what we were talking about. You see his whole contention is that though I preach that people need to make a commitment to their business if they are going to succeed, the problem is that commitment is difficult for people and hard to understand. So did you really commit to your last MLM? And are you going to commit this time?

As Don told me, he feels he is “very inadequate” to share his ideas on this subject, but at the same time, he knows that he is finally ready to address this complicated subject in his own life! And I agree! Don is now ready to speak on this issue because finally after 7 years of trial and error, he now really understands what this word commitment means! After spending thousands dollars, Don wants to share his mistakes, so you can benefit and he hopes you really take to heart some simple advice. Maybe you can learn from Don’s experience to make a serious commitment in your next endeavor.

Don told me that 7 years ago, he decided he did not want to work for someone else for the rest of his life making them rich and making himself just a living. I don’t blame him! In actuality, his real incentive was to try and create security for his family and for himself during retirement. As Don said to me and I understand him completely, the one thing standing in the way of his own success was himself! His own “thinking” of wanting some “magical opportunity” to come to him and end all of his financial problems overnight was his problem. Did Don grow up overnight? Did Don go to college or high school overnight? Does a bottle of great wine age overnight? What’s Don’s Point? Unless we commit to whatever it is that we want to accomplish, we will never, never succeed at anything! We all live in this great country. The land of free enterprise. But Don personally thinks some times we take it for granted how much opportunity we really have and as a result, maybe that’s a big reason why we don’t commit to anything. And on a personal note, Don admits that he was very guilty of not being committed to even his own dreams. He was very hardheaded and stubborn. Don is not alone. I was also guilty of this “thinking” and so are many of you.

What is the flip side of all of this?  A very valuable lesson that Don has learned and wants to share with you. He has learned the hard way or should he say, the very hard way! By not making a decision to commit to something or someone, then you have already made the decision to take the route he did and fail so hopefully, you will wake up quicker than he did. When you do wake up, as Don told me the other day, “Where the rubber meets the road” in his own life as it relates to commitment was: Staying with one or two MLM programs and being loyal to them – “No matter what the cost!” That reminds me also have any of you ever gotten involved with a program and did little and spent little and wasn’t loyal to that program and made money? Maybe it is time to learn from Don’s mistakes. He is shooting from the heart with nothing to gain other than the satisfaction of knowing he is telling the truth.

You see for Don, he was always thinking there was some opportunity out there that was much better and much faster than the other opportunities out there. Don’t believe what you read. Don calls these other opportunities, “the commitment thieves”. Many of these other opportunities are good programs, but when you make a commitment to one or two programs of loyalty, time, effort, patience, persistence, etc.., even if these other opportunities are great, when you jump ship, they are stealing your commitment from your first program and of course, you are going to go into a vicious cycle of having your commitment stolen on a consistent basis and of course, failure is inevitable. For Don personally, he believes his greatest mistake was to allow himself to be distracted by all the “new” and “improved” opportunities that came through the mail. Being lured by what he calls lies that financial independence can be gotten quickly. There will always be distractions – sometimes even better in some way then the program you are working. But once you quit your current program and move on to the next one, not only did you lose everything you put into your current program, but also there will certainly be another distraction down the road. Don highly recommends you don’t give in!! The grass always seems greener on the other side. You need to commit and don’t give in! The temptation may be great to jump ship when the chips seem down, but then you are starting at the bottom again. Is that what you want? Did you really commit then?

First of all, I want to personally thank Don for sharing this experience not only with me, but having the courage to share it with you. In my opinion, it takes a lot of courage to admit our own mistakes. Let’s face it, his mistakes are really all of our mistakes If you have a story you want to share with me also, please write it down and mail it to me. We both want to hear and share your experiences. Don’s final thought was to ask you a question? “If you would have stuck with a business you joined and liked a couple of years ago and committed to it up to this day, don’t you think you would be closer to succeeding then by jumping ship?” Let’s face it, if you jump ship every 3-6 months or so, aren’t you throwing your money away by chasing one opportunity after another after another.  Just pick a business and stick with it and you will succeed! Start this very moment off with the right thinking!

The author of this article is Larry Costello, President of All-American Print & Mail, 2200 Wilson Blvd #102-57, Arlington, VA 22201.