Are you interested … or are you COMMITTED??
I’m usually not one for rah rah, motivational quotes or content.
Reason being, it typically has a very temporary impact.
It can be beneficial to get all hyped before trying to set a PR …
But, that hype feeling is not very sustainable for more than a moment.
However, yesterday I heard something that got me hyped up and has left that fire in my belly ever since.
A story about belief and commitment
The story belonged to John Assaraf who has successfully built several multi-million dollar companies, and is a wizard when it comes to rewiring your brain.
When he was 19, John was heading down a dark path … selling drugs, committing crimes, and he assumed that he would end up either behind bars or in the ground.
John’s brother was a professional tennis player and had one of his coaches/mentors come to visit because he knew John was in trouble if he kept going down this path in life.
The mentor, Mr. Brown, sat down with John and asked him about his goals and aspirations.
John could barely muster up an answer.
Mr. Brown gave him a document to fill out with a bunch of questions about financial goals, material goals, career goals, etc.
John rolled his eyes but played along and filled out the forms.
He wrote down seemingly impossible goals like wanting to be worth $10 million, earning $200 k/year, owning several Mercedes Benz’.
Mr. Brown read over the answers and then asked the question … “are you committed to these goals … or just interested?”
John replied that committed and interested are the same thing.
Mr. Brown said … look, I’ve accomplished all of these things you’ve written down here. And, I can tell you that you can accomplish them too, but there’s a very big difference between being committed to accomplishing them and being interested in them.
The difference between being committed and interested
He said … if you’re simply interested, your excuses will get in the way. You’ll listen to the narratives in your head about why you can’t accomplish them and you’ll believe those narratives.
However, when you’re committed … you’ll stop at nothing to accomplish these goals. You’ll commit first, and then you’ll find a way to get it done. You won’t believe your own excuses. You won’t listen to the narrative in your head about why you can’t get it done.
You’ll commit … and then you’ll find a way.
John said, well in that case, I’m committed.
Mr. Brown said, okay great. I’m going to mentor you and help you accomplish these goals. But first, I need you to move to Toronto where I live.
John immediately replied … I can’t do that! I don’t have a car, I don’t have any money to get there, and I have no job in Toronto.
Mr. Brown pointed out … see, you just told me you’re committed. And already you’re making excuses about why you can’t do something. That’s called being interested. When you’re committed, you commit first … then find a way to get it done.
Okay … John said. I’ll see you in Toronto.
As it turns out, Mr. Brown completely turned John’s life around in that single conversation.
True commitment brings change
He told him to get his real estate license. And, after John started making excuses again (about cheating his way through high school, never passing a single test on his own, and not having the money to enroll), Mr. Brown once again reminded him about the difference between being interested and being committed.
John got his real estate license … the first exam he ever passed without cheating. Then, he went on to operating a real estate firm that generated 3.2 billion (with a B) dollars.
The most notable change was his internal dialogue and self belief.
John noticed something interesting when he was training real estate agents and teaching them how to market and sell themselves …
The growth trajectory of the agents were staying exactly the same, year over year. The agents making $30 k per year, continued making $30 k. The agents making $100 k per year, continued making $100 k.
It didn’t matter how much they learned about marketing and sales and fancy tactics.
So, John did something that seemed a little strange at the time.
He invested in teaching his agents how to change their inner dialogue and self belief.
Rather than teaching them fancy new sales tactics, he began teaching them about daily affirmations, visualization, meditation, and positive thinking.
After implementing that training, his company went from $1 billion in annual revenue to $3.2 billion.
What makes it even more impressive is that he could not get past $1 billion in annual sales for a long time. John assumed that was their ceiling.
By changing the inner dialogue of his agents, they were able to break through that plateau and experience over 200% growth.
And it all started from one simple question …
Are you just interested … or are you COMMITTED?
Well … which is it?
