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Are You Truly Committed?

Matthew Weiss

Last month, I started blogging for the New York Enterprise Report.  The NYER is a New York publication devoted to small business owners, and my blog is called Business Learning Junkie and tackles any business topic which might help an entrepreneur.

Recently, I wrote the below post of which I am very proud.  I now share it with you.

With the New Year upon us, many of us have made resolutions to improve our lives and businesses. Most of us will make initial efforts to achieve them. But, as you all know, eventually most of us will continue to eat poorly and fail to sock away reserve cash.

So how do people who make resolutions actually KEEP them? The answer lies in commitment. Are you willing to make your daily run even in freezing, blustery weather? Are you willing to give up a costly dalliance like your morning Frappuccino?

The reason I write about resolutions and commitment is because of Kevin Daum. Kevin performed one of the bravest and most vulnerable acts of commitment that I have ever witnessed, and it provides an amazing business lesson about achieving goals.

You see Kevin is recovering from financial disaster in the wake of the recent real estate collapse. He plans to overcome his misfortune by releasing a sales and marketing book in April called Roar! Get Heard In The Sales And Marketing Jungle, and engaging in consulting and speaking.

But Kevin has a loftier goal. Kevin desires (no correct that) intends for Roar! to become a New York Times best seller.  He lives and breathes this goal. All of his efforts are focused on achieving it. If there was any doubt as to his commitment, Kevin has something to show you. It is on his chest and reminds him every morning of his goal.  Just ask Kevin to open his shirt and you’ll see the words “New York Times Best Seller” tattooed backwards in Old English. Backwards, of course, so he can read it when he looks in the mirror. 

To put this in perspective, less than 400 unknown business authors hit this accomplishment annually. Yet Kevin has permanently inscribed this goal for his book on his chest even before he has made one sale.

The brilliance of this act is that it makes him remarkable. To paraphrase Seth Godin, Kevin is a walking purple cow. Anyone who is hears the story remembers it and, more importantly, repeats it. It is a marketer’s dream which can only serve to help sell his marketing book.

The tattoo also leaves Kevin with no choice but to achieve his goal. He courageously and openly shares his commitment. It is one thing to have a goal. It’s another to post it on your body for all the world to see. Like Hernando Cortes when he burned his boats at Vera Cruz, Kevin is past the point-of-no-return. You think he’s committed? You think he’ll make the list?

I have no doubt that Kevin will achieve his goal and it all lies in his at-all-costs attitude. How many of us can say that we’ve made THAT kind of commitment to our goals? Give this some thought as you make your 2010 plans.

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