Self-Commitment: The Power of Committing to Yourself PLUS 5 Tips to Stay Committed

I’m currently working with two clients who approached me because they’ve decided to commit to themselves this new year. Self-commitment is something each of us needs to do, yet life happens, and our attention is pulled in all directions but on us!

Choosing YOU is a voluntary process when one day you wake up and realise you’ve lost yourself somewhere along the way. However, some of us are forced to take a hard look at life and realise that if we don’t focus on ourselves, our lives become meaningless, at times downright disastrous.

What is Self-Commitment

Self-commitment is a “pinky promise” with yourself! It’s a pledge to honor and respect yourself, to stand in your truth, and stay aligned with your core values at all times. Self-commitment is a dedication to be in your integrity despite external challenges and obstacles.

Pursuing goals that serve your purpose or mission in life, committing to changing into a better version of yourself, and practicing self-love are all aspects of self-commitment. It’s taking responsibility for your future life using your personal power and innate truth to guide you every step of the way.

Self-commitment includes:

• Choosing to improve yourself at every opportunity, e.g., pursuing a healthier lifestyle.

• Making and sticking to promises made to yourself, e.g., installing healthier boundaries with others.

• Using discipline to push through negative thoughts or patterns, e.g., cultivating self-awareness to motivate positive action.

• Honoring your needs and values through self-respect, e.g., choosing healthier behaviour to meet your aspirations for wholeness.

5 Tips to Maintain Self-Commitment

1. Be Willing to Change

It’s easy to decide to commit to yourself, but keeping that promise can be challenging. Choosing to prioritize yourself means being willing to change your old self. This means identifying old habits that don’t serve you, and destructive thoughts, emotions, and behaviour that hold you back.

Being willing to change involves going inwards and doing the inner work to shift limitations, conditioning, and self-sabotaging patterns that don’t align with your authentic self. This takes hard work, dedication, and a willingness to take responsibility for your growth and transformation.

2. Cultivate an Open Mindset

Having an open mindset allows you to expand and be receptive to new possibilities and ideas. It requires you to see things from a different perspective and to be open-minded about things that you usually avoid or reject out of fear or limiting beliefs.

Embracing new information, being willing to learn new skills, and choosing curiosity are the traits of open-mindedness. Opening yourself up to other viewpoints, casting doubt on some of your beliefs, and demonstrating tolerance for others’ perspectives help you cultivate an open mindset. With an open mindset, you can navigate negativity and use optimism to stay committed to yourself.

3. Be Consistent

Consistency empowers you to honor your commitment to yourself, especially when using daily practices to improve. When I decided to self-commit, I identified essential practices that help me build my authenticity. These include:

• Waking up at the same time every morning.

• Meditation.

• Completing my current goal action steps.

• Taking my early morning walks and doing a 30-minute yoga/Tai Chi routine.

• Taking short breaks throughout the day and walking in the garden barefoot.

• Reflective journaling.

Being consistent with my daily practices reminds me of my dedication to myself and preventing falling back into destructive patterns.

4. Know Your Life Purpose or Personal Vision

Knowing my life purpose ensures that every goal I work on brings me closer to my North Star. Having a personal vision or purpose strengthens your resolve to stay committed to YOU. When you know what makes your life meaningful, you’re less likely to fall back into the old, destructive way of doing things.

When you align your self-commitment to your life purpose, self-discipline becomes easier, and your goals become more aligned with your personal vision. When you have a North Star to follow, you become value-oriented with clear direction and inspiration. Self-commitment is a must if you want to reach and live your life purpose.

5. Learn More About Yourself

Learning more about yourself allows you to discover what must shift for you to move into a new state of being. Committing to your authenticity gives you a reason to set boundaries, practice self-care, cultivate self-awareness, and honor your space and time. But if you don’t do the inner work to figure out who you are, there's less reason to self-commit.

Hiring a skilled life coach empowers you to reflect and take a personal growth journey that ultimately leads to transformation. You’ll discover your belief system (limiting and empowering), core values that reflect your truth, basic human needs, and how to meet them in healthy ways.

Final Thoughts

Self-commitment is a choice to make changes that support your quest for a better and more wholesome life. Staying committed isn’t easy, but consistency, doing the inner work, getting the right support, committing to your life purpose, and being open-minded empower you to remain dedicated to yourself.

Check in with yourself regularly and make sure old habits and limiting thought patterns haven’t crept in. Practicing gratitude, integrating playfulness, and embracing the change within are all aspects that let you stick to your self-commitment, especially on the difficult days. Contact me if you need support on your journey to authenticity and let’s talk!