There are two "commitment" blunders. The first is not staying focused on what you want to achieve.
I've seen many speakers fail… because in January they committed to becoming a world-famous keynoter, but in February they decided that they needed to write "the book" so that they could promote themselves. Then in March, with the book just started, they realized that they needed a web site - which in April morphed into a desire to have an e-commerce site. In May they decided that coaching / consulting was the way to go, but in June they remembered their book and so they threw themselves back into writing chapter one. And then in July they attended the annual convention of the National Speakers Association and they rededicated themselves to becoming master keynoters.
All of these goals are fine. And all of them are achievable. But they're not all achievable at the same time, and flitting from one to another means that you never finish any of them!
Other aspiring speakers fail to commit to their speaking careers at all. Let's say you have $1000. Do you ask yourself "Should I spend this $1000 on my speaking career, or should I spend this $1,000 on a new TV?" If so, you're not committed to your career - just by asking the question! (The committed speaker will ask "On which part of my speaking career will I spend this $1,000?")
Of course, you can't spend every dime you make - or every minute of the day - on your speaking career. You need balance in your life. But you also need to recognize that every dime (or every minute) that you spend on something other than your career further delays the fulfillment of your dream.
Staying focused is a major problem for some speakers. It's natural for an entrepreneur to be passionate and enthusiastic about a lot of things; but unless you can focus your energy on the most important areas, you end up squandering your potential. Stay focused to become successful!
Action Steps:
1. What is the most important thing you want to achieve? What is your highest priority?
2. Write your answer to that question - in BIG letters - and post it where you'll see it every day.
3. Because we tend to ignore what we're used to seeing, rewrite your answer and post it in a different (but still very visible) place every few days.