Commitment is Elimination of Options

ByJowi Witt

Hey Reader,

Commitment is often talked about mostly as a sense of committing to more.
Taking on a new commitment or getting more committed.

Yet commitment means:
​to eliminate alternatives.

I know that most think of commitment as adding something new to your life.
​I thought that way for years.

Then I ended up with too many commitments—
​too many plates that I wasn’t able to actually do.
I started to feel burned out.

That’s when I noticed how flawed my understanding of commitment was.

Commitment is not about saying yes.
It’s actually more about saying no.

Committing to one thing is to say no to many others.

We are committing not to one thing,
but we forget to eliminate alternatives.

Let me give you three examples:

  • The best person to marry is the one you stay with, saying no to any other.
  • The best diet is the one you follow, saying no to all the others.
  • The best business is the one you stick with, saying no to all other opportunities.

None are inherently the best.

The thing that makes it the best is not the thing itself,
but our commitment to it.

There are many businesses.
All of them work—
but not all work together.

You need to choose one
and say no to the others to make it work.

It all comes down to your persistence and decision to stick to your commitment​
and ignore all the shiny objects that will come your way.

So before you commit to something, understand this:

The beauty of the commitment is not in saying yes.
It’s in the elimination of alternatives.

Keep chopping Wood!

Your Jowi

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