Yesterday, I skimmed through a calendar from my church that was hanging in my parents’ kitchen when I came across the picture of a man who has been working at that church for as long as I can remember. What came to my mind, as I was reflecting on his picture was the word – commitment. He has put hours, months and years of his life into something that he is not in charge of overall and something that he probably does free of charge. I thought: You could only be committed like that to something that you love.
Being committed to the right thing is not always possible with all things that you try your hands at. You can spend years doing a particular thing, before you decide that you are better off being committed to something else. Commitment takes time, effort and in some cases, money – things that should not be wasted. So, it is okay to be using your skills for the wrong person and the wrong job. Sometimes, that suffering is desperately needed e.g to have money to pay bills; but don’t stay doing that for long. Once you are lucky enough to figure out the direction that you need to take in life given your talents and ideas, and the means to achieve your goals, don’t let that opportunity slip away.
As maturity sets into my life as I grow older, I am figuring out what I want to be committed to. There are certain job opportunities that I see and think – I should use my ability to be committed for another project. I don’t want to waste my time.
You don’t want to be committed to the wrong program throughout your four years as an Undergraduate student. You don’t want to be committed to a government that violates human rights. You want to use your ideas to help a success-oriented organization achieve its goals. You do not want to keep giving your well-sought ideas out to organizations, businesses and the government, while you are yet to establish financial independence for yourself. Don’t waste your ability to be committed.
Also, since friendships deserve commitment, do not waste your commitment on fair-weather friends and/or on people who bring you down. Friendships deserve love, honesty and loyalty from all people involved in the circle. Thus, do not waste your ability to be committed to such virtues as mentioned above for ‘friends’ who do not seem to reciprocate your goodness.
Commitment is a major key to achieving success. When I read people’s success stories, I see steps of commitment to a purposeful cause. Such people focus their ability to stay committed on the right things when they are lucky to understand what those things should be. If you don’t channel that virtue – the virtue of staying committed, into the right things, how can you change stereotypes, unethical norms, help to change the world, help turn a company’s finances around for good, be a light to people who need encouragement and love? Please channel that virtue to the right things:)
Love,
Chiamaka.
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