Author Archives : Shannon D Silva

Are You Interested or Committed? 2

This entry was posted in Advice Words of Wisdom and tagged action committed goals interested obstacles UWSV on by .
Think about a goal you’ve set for yourself: are you interested or committed to this goal? When it comes to goals, how you handle obstacles and how you make progress on your goals will shed light on whether or not you are interested or committed. 1
When you are INTERESTED in a goal: When you are COMMITTED to a goal:
Obstacle You tend to make excuses when faced with obstacles. This can result in procrastination. Perhaps you feel paralyzed by fear, you don’t know what to do or you don’t feel confident to figure it out. You are RESILIENT. You tend to plan for obstacles because you know they are a part of your journey. You have the FLEXIBILITY to change your course of action so you can continue to make progress. You have a high ‘bounce back’ ability and you learn from the experience.
Action You take action when it’s convenient or when you ‘feel like it.’ You may have a plan, but you aren’t consistent with taking action. You may also find that you confuse ‘planning to prepare to take action’ with actually taking action. For example, you read about being a coach or versus coaching clients. You have SELF-DISCIPLINE. You tend to do what needs to get done when it needs to get done. In other words, you have a high degree of INTEGRITY around taking action on your plan. You choose to be productive instead of choosing to procrastinate.
Based on the above, would you say you are interested or committed? If you are committed, congratulations! Take a moment and identify what makes you committed. If you lean more towards the interested side, here are 3 questions you can ask yourself in order to boost your level of commitment:
  1. What do you really want? Answer this question honestly so you can truly discern what you want. Also, make sure you look beneath the surface of your answer by asking yourself ‘why’ after you write down what you want. Think of it like peeling the layers of an onion - you want to get to the center because that’s where the truth lives.
  2. What will you say ‘yes’ to and what will you say ‘no’ to? Achieving any goal requires that you make tough choices about how you spend your resources (ex. time, money and energy). Make a list of what you will say ‘yes’ to and what you will say ‘no’ to. You will also be challenged to go outside of your comfort zone - this requires that you call upon courage and confidence. Are you up for the challenge?
  3. What will you do? It’s time to take a stand for what you want. This is your opportunity to make a firm decision to either stay interested or to step up and make a commitment. What is your decision?
Reflect on your goal. Are you interested or committed? Share your comments below. 130504_Shannon_33   Shannon D. Silva, MBA is the Founder and CEO of Unstoppable Women of Silicon Valley. Her specialty is helping women achieve their work and wellness goals by transforming self-doubt into COURAGE and procrastination into DETERMINATION. She also facilitates a coaching group called Unstoppable Women in ACTION. Shannon shares her message through workshops, inner circles and retreats. She is a Facilitator of The Virtues Project and Appreciative Living Learning Circles. She is professionally trained as a Certified Self-Discovery Coach and a Dale Carnegie trained speaker. With a reputation for captivating audiences with her enthusiasm, authenticity and passion, Shannon is known throughout the community as a catalyst for joy, transformation and creative self-expression. She is the proud author of the book, “52 Ways to Practice Self-Care and Create More Joy in Your Life.”