The Three Levels of Commitment that I live by:
"I'll try"
"I'll do my best"
"DONE"
In my house and in my life we live by a level of commitment which I believe has more impact than many other lessons I teach.
When I hear "I'll try", I know that the person saying that has already given themselves an out of getting something accomplished. It's the fall back word to justify failing. "I'll try" turns into "well, I tried". Which on the surface seems adequate for the losing proposition at hand.
The next level I hear is "I'll do my best". To which I reply...NO CRAP! What? I want you to give me a mediocre effort so I can have a sub par end product? I'll do my best, means you gave it a half assed effort to which you knew you were bored and or too lazy to accomplish with any degree of precision or expertise. I'll do my best, WHEN? Do I need to wait a year? TWO? It too is a fall back phrase we have all heard and accepted. "I did my best!" Yes, you did your best and it sucked.
The third level of commitment is the one we settled on and live by, "DONE"!
It's not if or but, It's done because we committed to it and verbally agreed. DONE! A priority!
That's is also to say, if we say "no, I'm not able to do that", we don't want to be questioned as to why. Example of this, is when asked to go out or meet for something, and I've said no. I don't think there needs to be an explanation. Does that person rather I lie? Oh sure, "I'll try" or "I'll do my best to get there" and NOT show up? NO! That's stupid. But if the commitment level of DONE is agreed to, then rest assure like death and taxes, the outcome is inevitable.
Del Seuss says it best: "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant.
An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent."
I committed to getting back into shape when I struggled with my sciatic nerve issue. DONE is what I said of this and I used a few "benchmarks" for myself to determine my progression of rehab.
One such mark was a Suspended Good Morning. I felt the first REAL test would be a 185 lbs GM from a suspension height that had my back and hips at a 90 degree angle.
Today, after doing 4 sets of 12 Knee to elbows suspended, and 4 sets of 12 GHR's, I worked up to a SOLID 5 reps of Suspended Good Mornings using 225 lbs.
I did do the "Happy Dance"
Then 5 sets of 13 Hamstrings to Calves squats were put in, just to open the back and hips up.
At the time of typing this, my back pump is SICK! Therefore, knowing as the day progresses, and the back tightness will increase, I am raising the hot tub temp to a nice 102 degrees before submerging.
DONE!