Loyalty and Commitment

Loyalty and commitment are like peas and carrots. One is green and the other is orange. One is a primary response and the other is a secondary one. But which comes first? It's kind of like the chicken and the egg thing. Does commitment come from a sense of loyalty or does loyalty come from first committing to something? I think this is a subject that can be debated for years. For the sake of our limited time however, I will just write for a few minutes on this subject.

Loyalty is devotion, faithfulness and faith. Commitment is an obligation, an engagement or an undertaking. So what does all of this mean? Are we committed to our faith? Are we loyal to an obligation or engagement? If so, why are so many people falling out of love or forgoing their faith in God and humanity? Let's bring it in even closer to home, what makes us committed to our families and our businesses? Why do we give up just short of the finish line at times? Why don't we try just one more time to make something work?

I think part of the problem is that some of our commitments and loyalties depend on someone else to be on board with us. In a marriage it takes two, in a family it takes a village and in our businesses it takes a city. We need people to understand us and to see our vision. We need people to recognize us. To be committed to our brand and see the big picture in our dreams. We cannot live life all alone without a purpose or without a plan, or any sort of focus. Living life this way makes it difficult to translate our dreams into reality or give our clients or customers something to be committed to or loyal about.

Now the question is, do you have a business or a life that others can be committed to? Do you run your business in a way that develops loyalty? If not, re-evaluate what you are doing. Find a person that is living a life that encourages loyalty and commitment, ask them to look over what you are doing and see if there are areas of concern. Take the information and formulate a plan to overcome the issues that you are experiencing that keep you from achieving your goals.

One more question: Do you want a business or life that others can be committed to? If you cannot commit to your own life, or be loyal in your own relationships, whether they are business or personal, how can you possibly expect someone else to see your vision? The answer is that they can't and they won't. You will get just a few short seconds to attract someones attention, then you have just a few short days to reconnect the dots for them, and then a few short months to prove that you can do what you say you can do. To build commitment and loyalty in your life and in your business takes your own commitment to your goal and loyalty to your faith to achieve the goal, to see the dream become a reality.

Peas or carrots? Loyalty or commitment? The answer is that they are both essential and neither is really any good without the other.