Table of Contents
Commitment #1: Commit To Your Purpose
What is your purpose? What were you born to do? What impact will you make on this universe?
Committing to your purpose means you strive to live out your purpose each day through your clearly defined goals.
You don't stray from your purpose. You don't allow distractions to deviate your efforts from your purpose. You don't allow people to impede your consistent execution of your purpose.
Each day is another opportunity to progress on what you were born to do.
Commit to your purpose. Commit to your goals.
Commitment #2: Financial Discipline
What is financial discipline?
You take time to learn how to manage your finances effectively. You never leave your money in the hands of others. You take ownership of your financial situation.
You live below your means and spend less than you earn.
You track what money comes in and what money goes out.
You consistently invest in your financial future.
You responsibly pay your bills and debts.
You don't accumulate debt.
Financial discipline can be challenging in a society that encourages and enables you to buy what you want through loans and credit.
But if you never set financial boundaries, you will have zero financial resources left.
To build wealth, you must invest and live below your means.
Commit to financial discipline.
Commitment #3: Never Settle For Mediocrity
According to Tempo.io, the average person will watch over nine years of television or around 80,486 hours.
It's no wonder why people never unlock their potential. Every decade, they spend at least a year watching television, consuming meaningless content, or scrolling the internet.
What a waste of one's limitless potential.
Settling for mediocrity is one of the least talked about addictions.
What's comfortable is hard to escape.
Common areas many settle for mediocrity:
Goals: You likely don't think big enough and are limiting your options.
Relationships: You're more likely to "settle down" with someone who isn't your ideal person.
Yourself: You likely don't set high enough standards for yourself.
Thoughts: You likely adopt negative and unproductive thinking patterns that you need to release to help unlock your potential.
Time: You likely waste too much time on unproductive and low-value activities.
Boundaries: You likely don't set firm enough boundaries with yourself, your time, and others.
Discipline: You likely don't implement enough self-discipline in many areas of your life -- stifling your progress.
Happiness: There are likely changes you want to implement in your life, but you are too scared to take the leap because you fear the unknown -- preventing your ultimate happiness.
Health: You likely could have better health but lack the self-discipline required to elevate your health status.
Mediocrity is the equivalent of your warm bed on a cold and rainy morning. Who wants to get out of bed? Not many. Escaping mediocrity is jumping out of bed (the comfort zone) and heading straight to work on creating your ideal future.
It's easy to settle in life. Most people compromise their wants, desires, goals, values, and ideals because they don't think they can have what they really want or don't want to put in the work to create what they want.
Mediocrity will keep you from experiencing all that life has to offer.
Commit to never settle for mediocrity.
Commitment #4: Adopt Minimalism
What is minimalism?
Minimalism is opting out of the addiction to things.
More, more, more, and more. We're taught to earn, spend, live, and acquire more.
We're not taught to live with less, want less, spend less, and acquire less.
What is the outcome of acquiring so much stuff? A house full of stuff? A storage unit you barely visit that has a bunch of stuff sitting in it? Bragging rights to show all the stuff to your friends and family?
What can more stuff do for you? Not much. Never fall into the trap of believing you need more stuff. More stuff can't do much for you; it's an empty pursuit.
The less you have and the less time you spend on acquiring more stuff, the more you can focus on what matters.
Commit to minimalism.
Commitment #5: Avoid Addictions
Addictions destroy several things:
1. You
2. Your time
3. Your resources
4. Your quality of life
5. Your relationships
If you have any type of addiction (e.g., work, gambling, porn, sex, alcohol, drugs, stealing, sugar, food, etc.), get help immediately.
Never try to cross the river at its deepest point. Cross the river at its shallowest point -- the easiest part of a river to escape.
Commit to living an addiction-free lifestyle.
Commitment #6: Holistic Health
Health is the foundation of success.
Many health issues are entirely within our realm of control; not all health issues are, but many are. And the bulk of your health results come from diet and exercise.
Good health and a healthy weight are the foundation of success.
But maintaining a healthy body and mind requires self-discipline.
I joined the gym when I was 14 years old, and I've been in it ever since. Why? Commitment. I'm committed to building my body. I have a fast metabolism and could easily get away with eating whatever I wanted, but I don't. Why? I'm committed to my health.
Self-discipline is required to build your best, most healthy body.
Let's take it a step further. What does holistic health entail?
- Mental health
- Physical health
- Financial health
- Relational health
- Emotional health
- Professional health
Each pillar is essential to your overall success. Neglecting one can impact the other.
How do you balance and maintain holistic health?
- Setting boundaries
- Implementing self-discipline
- Effectively managing your priorities
- Keeping your eyes on both the big and small pictures
Commit to holistic health.
Commitment #7: Give Generously
Life isn't about receiving; it's about giving.
I remember talking to a mentor about how helpless and guilty I felt because of how much help I was receiving from others. She told me one day, it will be my turn to be the giver.
That day has arrived, and now that I've experienced being on both sides of giving and receiving, I understand that giving is where fulfillment lives.
Receiving here and there is pleasant; it's refreshing, but nothing can fill your cup like giving to someone in need; this is what counts most.
We weren't created to receive. We were created to give.
Focus more on others versus self.
Commit to giving generously.
Commitment #8: Know and Evolve Thyself
Know yourself or become who the world tells you to be.
As a child, my mother paid me $5 to read personal development books. Then she stopped paying me.
I kept reading.
Reading is one of my favorite activities; it's how I elevate, improve, evolve, and know myself. A day rarely goes by without me reading or listening to a book.
People who don't learn stop growing. People who don't evolve stay the same and miss out on the world of opportunities that are awaiting their higher selves.
For a lot of my life, I dedicated it to learning, exploring, and knowing myself. Even now, I'm still learning, exploring, and discovering myself.
If you don't know yourself, the world will tell you who to be.
Deviate. Be yourself. Be authentic. Don't assimilate. Know who you are and live out your truth. Invest your time in your evolution so you can be present and exude the best and most self-aware version of yourself to the world.
Shower the world with your authenticity.
Read, study, listen, discuss, and explore your soul's most painful and dark depths. Know yourself intimately without question.
Commit to exploring and knowing yourself. Commit to personal development. Commit to learning and improving.
Commitment #9: Implement Boundaries
Don't be the doormat.
My mother told me that if I don't stand up for myself at a young age, the world will walk all over me and won't apologize for it. The lesson was a bit more demonstrative, which is why I will never forget this lesson.
A person without boundaries is like a home without walls.
You will lose your identity, dignity, and time if you don't set and enforce boundaries. People will use and abuse you, and it won't always be because they want to take advantage of you; it will be because they can take advantage of you.
People who don't have firm boundaries tend to lose control of their lives and their relationships. Their lives are not their own but everyone else’s.
Boundaries tie directly into self-discipline. Set boundaries with your finances, your health, your emotions (don't allow your emotions to overpower you; implement emotional regulation), your time, your relationships, your family, your friends, your career, and most importantly, yourself.
Commit to saying "no" and setting boundaries with yourself and others. Stay in control of your life.
Commitment #10: Self-Discipline In Every Area
Self-discipline is one of the best traits to have.
Do you know why self-discipline is such an important trait? Because without it, you can't get anything done.
At some point, you must be disciplined enough to complete a task or accomplish a goal.
Disciplined people understand that the pain, discomfort, inconvenience, and sacrifice are always short-term. Once you start (and keep going), the results speak for themselves, making the pain easier to manage or disappear altogether.
Commit to self-discipline in all areas of your life to accelerate your results.
Commitment #11: Question Everything
Stay curious. Don't accept and adopt anything at face value without question.
Don't accept traditions, beliefs, opinions, ideology, and habits without question.
Question everything and think for yourself.
Avoid assimilating and simply adopting what others tell you to adopt.
Commit to questioning everything.
Commitment #12: Commit Once
Don't start and stop your commitments.
Commit once.
Be consistent.
Stay steadfast.
Stay on the most productive set of train tracks.
Commit one time and stay committed.
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Learn about Destiny S. Harris @ destinyh.com