Wanting VS Committing

If you have a few minutes, what I am going to write in this post CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE. It is not usually my approach to say such things but this is a very powerful concept. I have a clarity I wish I had years ago. I am going to share it with you now as long as you are willing to read this all the way through.

Understanding the difference between WANTING something and COMMITTING to something will take you to a higher level of enlightenment. With such knowledge you can transform your life in ways you have yet to imagine. Or you can choose to stay exactly where you are at.

I am not proclaiming to be a self-help guru. You may be reading this with your defenses all the way up. I cannot blame you. I am not here to trick you in any way or sell you something you do not need. This blog is all about me sharing openly what I am learning on my journey. So with that, please breathe patiently and allow me to share some of my story, some of my experience as it relates to this idea of WANTING VS COMMITTING.

We all WANT things don't we? A new car, a house, to make a feature film, to having a million dollars... Think about the things you WANT in your life. I am sure you can come up with a grand list of things you WANT. Seriously, I want you to really think about the things you WANT in your life. Take as long as you need. It is important for you to at think of at least one thing that you WANT.

Hold that image in your head of that thing you WANT.

Let me tell you about something I WANTED since the year 1998. My WANT was to make a feature film. Out of nowhere I came up with an idea for a feature film. I shared this idea with 3 of my closest friends and with their help began writing a screenplay. The four of us even moved to Los Angeles to see through this dream of making that feature film...

Now let's go back to that thing that you WANT. How do you feel about it? Can you visualize it? How bad do you WANT it? Bad enough you can taste it? Do you WANT it more than anything in the world?

Now let me tell you the truth, whatever this thing is that you WANT, so bad that you can taste it...YOU WILL NEVER HAVE IN YOUR LIFE.

Let me say it again, you will never have that thing you WANT in your life. You will go on WANTING that thing forever. WANTING something is exactly that...the state of dreaming or wishing for something. When you WANT something that is exactly what you get, the force of WANTING it.

Wait a minute, what about that WANT that I had, that feature film that I moved to Los Angeles to make. To date, it has never come to pass. Eleven years later and it still has not been made. It was something I conceived. And I believed I could achieve it. But that was not enough.

In the Fall of 2007 I was tired of another year passing without me making my first feature film. Why couldn't I get over the hump? The good news was I closer than I had ever been, having finally getting over a personal hurdle to complete a feature screenplay on my own. My story took a couple of unusual twists (summed up in my second blog post ever here on Film Courage) and then the most extraordinary thing happened.

It's the decision that changed my life and by grasping this wisdom, it can positively affect your life. I decided I was going to make my first feature film.

But we all make decision don't we? People decide to quit smoking, to lose weight, to become millionaires. How effective are these decisions we make?

A decision by itself is important but it is not enough. You must COMMIT to the decisions you make. You must COMMIT to those things you truly want to bring into your life.

In the Fall of 2007 when I made the decision to make my first feature film, it was different than the decisions I made before that. With that decision, I COMMITTED to seeing my film through no matter what.

You want to know something, if I didn't make that COMMITMENT I would never have completed, Night Before the Wedding. Again, I would not have completed my first feature film if I did not COMMIT to completing it.

I took absolute responsibility for this project. When I decided I was going to make 'Night', I made it very clear with myself that I was going to see it through no matter what obstacles presented themselves to me. And no matter how many people I got involved in this project, I wasn't going to rely on anyone else to make this film for me. Though I couldn't make my movie alone, I certainly couldn't make it without COMMITTING.

No longer was WANTING to make a feature film acceptable for me. I COMMITTED to making Night Before the Wedding. Believe me it has not been easy. At no point have things really gone easily or smoothly. Throughout the entire process it has been putting out one fire or another. One defeat or another. There seems to be a never ending assortment of complications. All in all it has been the most consuming and challenging endeavor I have ever taken on. And just because it is now completed, doesn't mean the obstacles have gone away.

To COMMIT to something is to do whatever it takes, to devote yourself entirely until it comes to pass. That's what it takes. I know it is not an easy thing to do. When you truly want something you will COMMIT to it.

So if you are wondering why you cannot bring into your life the things that you WANT, ask yourself if you are fully COMMITTED.