It doesn?t matter what brand of success we?re chasing after. The fact still remains: We will not succeed in attaining any dream until we first make a commitment. This reality tends to elude us as we reach for greatness in any area of life. We spend our time trying to rationalize, justify, plan, and arrange everything into a nice little box before we ever take the first step. We somehow believe that, if we just wait long enough, or plan well enough, the answers and the way will eventually surface, as if by magic. As a result, we waste years of time, effort, and energy that could have otherwise been spent on actually pursuing our goals. We just need to flip that tiny little switch of commitment.

Yet, flipping this little switch of commitment is, at the point of decision, the most difficult and most unnatural thing to do at that fragile point of our dream pursuit. It?s the very essence of a paradox. We go back and forth, over and over again in our mind: ?If I could just know this, then I could do that.? Over, and over it goes until we drive ourselves crazy. But the truth is: If we could just do that, then we would come to know this.

I experienced this very frustrating reality as I finally decided to pursue my speaking and writing career. I know that I literally entertained the possibilities that awaited me, once I got started, for at least a whole year. But the most powerful thing happened when I took the first step. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, the second step magically appeared. Then, when I was ready for the third step, there it was. Eventually, I found that I had created momentum by putting one foot in front of the other. Today, I?m speaking and writing more than I ever have, and I?m getting closer to realizing my dream every single day.

Before I made the commitment, frustration. After I made the commitment, opportunity.