Schooner Cove, Tofino Canada

For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Steve Jobs

In the final post of this series, I’ll be focusing on the 4th pillar of professional persona: commitment. In this context, I define commitment as dedication to your work, your team, and your organization. To me, commitment is not something we learn, but something that wells up from inside. Commitment is devotion. It is sacred. Because of that, commitment can’t be faked.

When I am in a situation that calls for commitment that I’m not feeling, I know it. I recall being in a job where I liked the people and the work well enough, but something about it just didn’t engage me. I didn’t exactly dread going to work, but I wasn’t on fire about it either. Overall I’d have to describe myself as…tepid.

After awhile, I noticed that my coworkers kept asking if I was okay. This puzzled me for a bit, until I realized that my lack of commitment was showing. I tried to reengage, tried to find something new to get interested in, but in the end I knew that I just didn’t care enough to stay. Although I didn’t have a job to go to next, I quit shortly thereafter. Happily, I found the work that makes my heart sing, and have been ardently committed to it ever since.

Because of this experience, I am very sensitive to the question of commitment when I am coaching clients. If I get even a whiff that they are tepid, I give them the following homework, to think and journal about:

Consider your work, by both thinking and feeling about: the content and focus of it, the people you work with on a daily basis, and the larger organization in which you work. Using rigorous honesty, answer the following questions:

•Do you believe in what you’re doing? Are you proud of your work? Your team? Your organization?

•Do you feel a sense of excitement, devotion, or even love for your work? Your team? Your organization?

•Read Steve Jobs’ quote above. How does it strike you?

•Can you honestly say that when it comes to this work, with this team, in this organization, that you are “all in?”

If your answers confirm for you that you are not committed, I urge you to pay rapt attention to yourself. It is tempting to rationalize lack of commitment and to hope that a sense of dedication will materialize. You might tell yourself that working without commitment doesn’t really hurt anything or anyone. It may seem compelling to you to stay in this commitment-free zone if you fear you have too much to lose financially by moving on.

What I know is this: commitment once lost is not typically regained. Worse, spending most of your waking hours on something you are not committed to is soul-killing. If your answers to the questions above make you even remotely queasy, I encourage you to honor them. And let yourself be led to where your inner sense of excitement and devotion takes you.