I am a fraud. There I said it….

I am asked often to speak about resilience, and I do. However, the word doesn’t sit happily with me in the work place.

Having had the pleasure of working with some of the best sports people on the planet, I believe it’s more about commitment then resilience.

Darren Hardy sums this up quite nicely when he says:

“Commitment is doing the thing you said you were going to do long after the mood you said it in has left you.”

Now the difference between success and being on the edge of it is an individual’s attitude towards the importance of that commitment.

Successful athletes, entrepreneurs, and leaders understand that to achieve their goals; they have to sacrifice and invest their talent and emotion into long-term gains. They learn to lose before they learn to win.

Resilience to me is about endeavour. Trudging through things no matter how difficult they are. Bouncing back even though fate has dealt you a cruel blow – and by definition, to be resilient you have to expect and experience another. We must be resilient, merely states it’s going to be tough and hard work to see this through.

I like the optimism and ownership offered by the word commitment. We must be committed rather than we must be resilient implies something different. How repeating small, sometimes seemingly insignificant actions no matter what the environment can determine our success. How we can get to where we want by understanding the necessity of consistent positive action.

Imagine you wanted to lose weight. Would you diet for one day, train for 10 hours and then expect to see results?

I don’t need to teach you to suck eggs, especially if your cholesterol is already high. You know the recipe for getting in shape. It only has two ingredients. Eat well. Exercise to burn more than you consume. Simple. The problem lies in the execution. The part most of us fail.

As an aside, I have sat in front of four very good sports people, who have asked for psychological tips and gimmicks to help achieve goals. Each have come back a week later and said they tried it and it doesn’t work – do I have anything else? It’s the equivalent of training in the gym for half an hour, going back home, looking in the mirror and saying “The gym’s rubbish – it doesn’t work”. None, achieved number 1 in the world status – although two were capable.

The body, mind, and achievement of goals which are meaningful and worthwhile – takes commitment. It doesn’t take a lot. However, it does cost us something. We need to be prepared to encounter failure, blockers, and a variety of inhibitors and continue regardless. We need to understand that the price of success is always paid in full and in advance. Failure can be part payment towards success, if we have the commitment for that to be true.

We need to understand the premise that short-term sacrifice and loss can lend itself to long-term success, but it’s commitment which provides that perspective.

Now, there is a saying ‘cobblers children have the worst worn shoes’. So therefore, I will continue with my fraudulent behaviour – Now I’ve spent time writing this, I can’t be bothered to go to the gym now, so will watch the footie instead.