Are You Committed?

By G. Baden

What do you think separates the good athletes from the great ones? The good athletes are dedicated to their sport, constantly improving their game and themselves for them or their team to stay competitive.

The great players are committed to their sport. They don't just improve their game and themselves to stay competitive, they constantly improve to win. They are not satisfied with just being competitive or just being in the discussion of contenders. They want to be the best and they want to win.

The good and dedicated athletes do their best, maximizing what their bodies and talents allow them to do. The great and committed athletes do whatever it takes for them to win, even going beyond their limit just to achieve their victory.

Being dedicated alone to what you want to accomplish is not enough, you need to be committed to accomplishing it. Let me share a story I read recently that explains well dedication and commitment.

Jason Parker, a silver medalist speed skater in the 2006 Winter Olympics, shared how we was a very dedicated athlete since he was 11 years old. He was self motivated and started to train himself with the goal of competing in the Olympics one day.

He never missed a workout, never slept late, never drank and even just partied a little during his college year, It was always about training for him and training very hard at that. But despite his dedication and continuous training, it was only in the last year of his career before he finally competed in the Olympics.

He said it was because he wasn't committed to it. He was dedicated, but being dedicated only means that he was doing all the right things; working hard, not partying, taking care of his body, etc. He wasn't 100% invested in his own goal. He was just going through the motions because he always knew that he had the next season to try and achieve his goal. He didn't put a deadline on when he wanted his goal to be achieved.

Upon realizing that he now committed himself to competing in the Olympics in his last season as a speed skater. He committed himself in his workouts, thinking that there's no tomorrow already. He did whatever it took and he was finally able to compete in the Olympics. He even won the silver medal. Click here to read his blog.

Friends dedication alone won't bring us to where we want to go. We need to be committed, to be 100% invested in our goal. And once we do that, we are most likely to achieve the goal that we have set out for us.

So I ask you, are you committed to your goal? Or are you just dedicated to it?