Commitment: The fuel of desire - 1

I am pained to the marrow about the gory death of Ms Deborah Samuel. What happened in Sokoto last week in a supposed institution of higher learning is to say the least, reprehensible and as we have since been told, absolutely unislamic. Even under Sharia Law, the statute on blasphemy and the death sentence applies strictly to Muslims! And that sentence can only be passed by a competent body of jurisdiction. The Quran has specific instructions on how true Muslims should respond to non-Muslim blasphemers. IGNORE, not KILL THEM. In the Hadith, a man was said to have deliberately urinated in a mosque to desecrate the place. All that Prophet Muhammed (SAW) did was to ask the worshipers to pour water over the urine and wash it off! No man can fight for God. If you have to defend who you worship, we should really ask questions about who should be worshipping who.

While blaspheme against anyone’s cherished spiritual convictions should be condemned, what would become of society if the adherents of every faith should go on a killing spree each time a sacred symbol of their worship is despised by adherents of another faith?

Every true Muslim needs to rise up and speak against this needless aberration that seems to characterize religious interactions especially in the Northern part of the country where several half-baked, so-called Islamic scholars are misleading people and selling a violence-ridden brand of Islam that does not reflect the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

More importantly, government should cut out the déjà-vu rhetoric and ensure that the perpetrators of this dastardly act are fished out and prosecuted as deterrent against future reoccurrence.

Now to today’s discourse.

Success is something that we all desire, irrespective of our definition or perception of it. Whether it is getting to the top of the ladder on a career path or becoming listed on Forbes 500 Billionaires, success means many things to many people. My definition of success is the internalization and eventual actualization of a God-inspired dream or vision. Without attempting to fully unbundle that definition in this writeup, suffice it to say that between what you have internalized by a thorough understanding of what the destination is (a clear vision) and the actualization (bringing what is within into physical, evident manifestation) is a process suffused with series of actions, moves, bright moments of achievement and celebrations, fortuitous encounters and relationships, as well as setbacks, brickbats, disappointments and failures. There will be a mix of dark and bright clouds.

In a mentoring session, I asked my protégés why they have failed to achieve most of the goals they set on their way to where they believed God was taking them (Yes, I am resolute about the fact that true success begins with the God-factor). The answers came in torrents. Family and background challenges. Lack of certain privileges. Loss of income or lack of financial resources. Limited education. Limited connections. Lack or loss of zeal or passion. The list goes on.

I do not discount any of the given answers because they reflect the reality of those who gave them. However, none of them, not even passion, is the REAL reason for anyone’s limitation. They are simply effects or consequences of the real reason. If you can deal with the actual reason, I would like you to give me a feedback on your progress in three months. It will dwarf what you have achieved in the last three years! The real reason for dwarfed achievement is something we routinely overlook. LACK OF COMMITMENT!

Did I just shock you? The inability to commit to the pursuit of ANYTHING CONSISTENTLY in a given direction usually comes with excuses that eventually become albatrosses. Whenever we find it very convenient to give those excuses, we feel that we are fine. Unfortunately, as we reiterate those reasons, they become our limits!

Check the trajectory of your life. You will find out that your greatest impact and best results in ANY area have come from the areas that you were committed to and consistent in, not minding the pain, discomfort and fear that sometimes arose from doing them! Passion is good and necessary to drive the pursuit of a worthy goal. However, the capacity of zeal is limited when you are half-hearted or unsteady in your pursuit.

You are where you are and what you are today because of results produced by your commitment or lack of it!

Commitment is like an unspoken oath by which you bind yourself to a certain goal, cause, person or institution, come rain, come shine! It has been said that commitment is the secret of the postage stamp. The only reason that the letter gets to its destination is because the stamp commits to the envelope!

Even if you are in a vehicle that is headed in your destination, if you are not resolutely committed to the destination, you can alight from the vehicle at any convenient point in the journey!

Most of us are too distracted because we are too distended by our many involvements which, in the most, confer no direct benefits on us. Many social media groups, social clubs, relationships are such a drain on our time, resources and energies that we have forgotten how to live by priorities. Instead, we find it convenient to live by preferences! Priorities shape our focus and help us to zero attention and effort on the things that are needful while we defer other things that may be important, but which are not expedient.

What is the difference between involvement and commitment? Think of it this way in layman’s terms. In the making of an egg, the chicken is involved. It simply lays the egg and can walk away. But in the production of chicken sandwich or chicken meat for food, the chicken is irrevocably committed!

Commitment entails PERSUASION. It begins with a resolute heart conviction that values the PRIZE at stake more than the PRICE to be paid. Simply put, while commitment thinks VALUE, involvement only thinks COST. This is the difference between losers and winners. Every time you find yourself thinking about something you are convinced you need to do and the first thing that bothers you is how much it will cost to have it instead of thinking about what you stand to gain if you have it or what you lose by not having it, you have just betrayed your lack of commitment.

Even if it will come at great price, the first question to ask is, “Is it worth it?”. Champions only need to answer that in the affirmative and they devote all their energies to pursuing it. If limited resources pose a challenge, the next step is not to fold your hands and make the mind-numbing statement, “I cannot afford it”. It is to ask the mind-enlarging question, “How can I afford it?”… Continued…

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!

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