How Bad Do You Want It?

That's commitment

“I’m here to tell you, number one, that most of you say you want to be successful, but you don’t want it bad. You just kinda want it. You don’t want it as much as you want to party.”

“Some of you love sleep more than you love success! If you want to be successful, you’ve got to be willing to give up sleep. How bad do you want it?”

“When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful”

Some of my favorite quotes by the narrator in the video “How bad do you want it”.

Whatever your bigger goals are in life, what are you willing to do achieve it? Are you willing to make sacrifices? Work when others are sleeping? Eat only ramen noodles? Breakup with a girlfriend/boyfriend who is holding you back?

You may think you want it so bad, but do you really?

Any area of life where you want success isn’t going to happen overnight. If you think it’s going to be easy, this post will be a waste of time for you.

If you’re trying to run your first marathon, or build a thriving business, both will take commitment. There’s no quick fix. No pill. No secret in a $29.95 infomercial at 2am.

In the book The Element, author Ken Robinson recalls a story that put into perspective his level of commitment. After listening to his brother perform in a band one night, Ken complimented the extremely talented keyboard player named Charles.

Then I said that I’d love to be able to play keyboards that well. “No, you wouldn’t,” he responded. Taken aback, I insisted that I really would. “No,” he said. “You mean you like the idea of playing keyboards. If you’d love to play them, you’d be doing it.”

Charles practiced every day for three or four hours in addition to performing. He’d been doing that since he was seven. That’s why he played so well. Suddenly, Ken felt that playing the keyboards that well didn’t seem so appealing.

Liking the idea and being committed are two completely different things.

People who like the idea of blogging, just read about blogging. Committed ones put what they learn into action. The idea of a business sounds good to many. Committed ones live and breath their business. The idea of losing 20 sounds great. The committed ones actually do it.

Are you willing to make sacrifices?

Most people aren’t willing to make sacrifices to get what they want. The successful ones do what the unsuccessful ones aren’t willling to do.

Neil Patel, of Quick Sprout, said he’s so busy with two of his businesses that he uses weekends and holidays to write blog posts. For him, it’s a quiet day to get writing done. It’s not what we think about doing on those days, but it’s what needs to be done sometimes. He stresses the importance of making sacrifices if you want a great blog.

If you had a free day off of work, are you willing to spend that day doing more work? Or would you rather go out shopping?  Are you willing to skip nights out with friends? Would you wake up an hour earlier?

I watched a show about a famous chef reviving a struggling restaurant. The owner liked the idea of having a restaurant. So she opened one.

But the restaurant is a mess. The kitchen service is spotty. The food is bland. The wait staff is lazy. She has no idea how the money is being spent and if it’s helping. She’s put in $500,000 in two years and it’s getting worse.

Do I think she’s really committed? No! If she was, she wouldn’t have let things get to that point.

How does she not know where her money is spent nor where money is being wasted? That’s not running a business. She liked the idea of having a restaurant, but wasn’t committed enough to learn how to run it as a proper business.

Committed ones don’t quit

Those who like the idea of doing something will quit after failing once or twice. They’ll say, “It’s too hard. It’s not meant to be. Oh well I tried.” 

The committed ones don’t stop.

These famous people found success despite failure. These people in their 30′s and 40′swere committed to going for what they wanted despite the long road and setbacks.

A great guy I’ve gotten to know online, Dan Gheesling wasn’t just interested on getting on the reality show, Big Brother. He wanted to so bad.

He first got hooked on Big Brother when he was 16. Though he couldn’t audition for the show until he was 21, he spent the next four years learning as much as he could get cast on the show. He didn’t find much info. It seemed like it was all a big secret. That didn’t stop him from finding what he could.

When he finally turned 21, he submitted his application form along with a video. He got on the show right? Nope.

It took him four long years to finally get on Big Brother. Four years of not giving up. Four years being obsessed with one goal. He took it very seriously. He didn’t just like the idea of being on Big Brother. He was willing to do whatever it took.

He’s got a great free ebook chronicling his journey to get on Big Brother so I won’t give away what happened because it’s hard to believe he didn’t give up despite the crazy journey.

Even if you’re not interested in getting on a reality show, you’ll still enjoy reading his story. It’s really inspring. I planned on reading a few pages before bed, but couldn’t sleep till I finished it! It was like a Hollywood movie.

You can download his free ebook (email opt-in) at How to Get on Reality TV.

What was Dan’s reward after four years of obstacles and failure but never giving up?

He won $500,000 as the winner of Big Brother 10 (video). Congrats!

What do ordinary people do?

They want what others have, but don’t realize how much work is involved. Like the keyboard player told Ken. If he really wanted to play the keyboard that well, he’d be doing it right now. Not just talking about it. Was Ken willing to start putting in hours of practice every day? He realized it took more commitment than he was willing to put in.

If Dan was ordinary, he would have quit after the first time.

People email me all the time asking for advice on getting more readers, more retweets, more comments, etc. I’m more than happy to help them out and give them all my secrets. What happens? The ones I follow up with months later, haven’t done anything I said. In fact, their blog looks exactly the same.

They like what they see, but don’t want to do the work involved.

Average people day dream about what they want. Then there’s an excuse that comes along. If they try, they do so gently, like walking on a frozen pond. They’re so afraid to fail! So if they do, they think “Okay well at least I didn’t waste too much time trying.”

That’s not commitment.

I came to a realization of my own commitment

That’s what got me started on this whole journey. For so many years prior to October 2010, I’ve wanted a popular blog and my own online business. I had tried and failed. When I failed, I gave up. Years passed and hopelessness set it.

Looking bad, I had zero commitment! I loved the idea of it, but I wasn’t willing to do what it took. I was afraid of failing again.

That changed one night after another meaningless and stressful night at work (I wrote more about it in my free ebook. Sign up below).

From that moment, I could either slowly waste my boring life away, or do something about my life. Whatever I did HAD to be better than how my life was.

That commitment has brought me to this point and a whole new attitude on life.

However, last week I’ve had to re-evaluate my commitment to certain goals.

How bad did I want to achieve them? I want it, but my actions weren’t showing that. I was doing what average people would do, which is just thinking about it! I had to be honest with my lack of effort. It sucked. If I wanted it that bad, I needed to show it.

Take a look at yourself

Do you want to be just average or do you want to be extraordinary?

That’s why I wanted to write this post. To encourage you to take a long look at yourself and think if you are really doing enough to achieve your dreams.

Look at your actions. Look at what you’re doing in your free time. Look at the results you’ve been getting. Take a hard look at yourself and be honest.

If it feels too easy, you’re probably not doing enough.

Are you willing to spend four years like Dan Gheesling to realize your dream? Would you continue despite being rejected by 12 publishers? (She’s a billionaire now).

You may think you want it really bad, but are you willing to commit everything you’ve got
?