It is common to hear that the difference is made by attitude. The attitude assumed by individuals, work teams or companies in the face of different circumstances. The attitude to new challenges, during crisis situations, in times of uncertainty, in the face of change processes. From my perspective there is a fundamental attitude that I call "The Power of Commitment."
Our Vision or our most audacious goals begin to come to life the moment we declare our commitment to their realization and begin to execute concrete actions. We take the first steps and start the path of creating a new future. Two elements combine to start this process, the conviction that it is possible to generate a new reality and the commitment to its realization.
The Vision is only fantasy if it is not accompanied by a committed action, a consistent practice that allows things to happen.
It is the commitment we assume that sets in motion the mechanisms of change and transformation, whatever the same, both at a personal or work level. Initiative and effective action arise from an attitude of deep commitment to something you want to achieve.
Commitment generates action, but it is also an action in itself. We take the action of committing ourselves. Commitment does not happen until a person declares it and acts accordingly. The individual through her committed action begins to build a different reality.
This commitment in turn has two particular aspects. One is related to action, constant work, commitment and persistence to move beyond difficulties. The other quality of commitment is linked to the internal disposition, with the deep, intimate connection that we have with ourselves when we are committed to something that we consider transcendent.
This state of “ being committed ” can be felt bodily. Any person who in one or more moments of her life has worked committed and passionately, will know and be able to recognize what I am referring to. This feeling of commitment is expressed in the first place in our state of mind, in enthusiasm, in desire, in the disposition to face challenges. Also in the way we pay attention and assign meaning to what happens to us and what happens around us. We listen and observe from our commitment, with the intention of detecting what event or what person can mean an opportunity that benefits our projects.
Synchronicity and Kairós:
When we act in this state of deep commitment, of intense connection with ourselves, unusual and curious events often happen. Energies that surprise us are unleashed. Completely unpredictable things begin to happen, "coincidences" that allow us to move towards our goal. It is as if there were an "opening of doors" that until that moment remained closed even though we had repeatedly struck them and almost miraculously in a moment they begin to open.
WH Murray in the narration of his expedition to the Himalayas states: “Until one is committed, there is doubt, the possibility of going back and there is ineffectiveness. With regard to all acts of initiative and creation, there is an elemental truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: the moment one commits himself, Providence also advances with us. All kinds of things happen that come to our aid, incidents that, if it weren't for our commitment, would never have manifested themselves. A torrent of events sprout from the decision, all kinds of circumstances are in our favor; encounters and material support that we could never have imagined appear on our way ”.
This concurrence of synchronous events that occur at a certain moment, are chained without an apparent cause and provide us with unsuspected help since they quickly guide us towards our objective, some analyze it as chance and others as causality. Phenomena that do not have a logical explanation, but are closely linked to the energies that human beings generate when we make an effective commitment to our Vision, our objectives and our destiny. Ancient mystics held that when someone deeply desires something and is committed to achieving it, the entire universe conspires to make that wish come true.
Peter Senge states: " When we are in a state of commitment and surrender, we begin to experience what has sometimes been called synchronicity." The concept of synchronicity was coined by Carl Jung and defines it as "a significant coincidence of two or more events in which something more than random possibility is involved." For his part, Arthur Koestler defines synchronicity as " the apparently accidental meeting of two unrelated causal chains, in a coincidental event that seems to be both highly unlikely and highly significant."
The truth is that when one is committed to achieving one's goals, has declared with conviction and commitment "I want this for me" and has begun to act accordingly, many times a set of situations that at first glance seem like coincidences begin to happen, and if we are alert and on the way we can capitalize on them in our favor. In this sense, it is essential to be prepared and ready for action, because just as doors open in an instant, if one is not able and willing to take advantage of the occasion, they quickly close again. As Arthur Schnitzler says " Being prepared is important, knowing how to wait is even more important, but seizing the right moment is the key to life."
For this moment of opening of opportunity, the ancient Greeks had a distinction, they called it kairos. With this they accounted for the discontinuity of human time, where not all time is the same depending on the deployment of our effective actions. In this way they made a difference between chronological time -chronos- where one hour is always sixty minutes, and human time -kairos- where there are circumstances in which in one hour the meaning of our life changes or we achieve what we could not in years. Oscar Wilde said that: "Sometimes we can go years without living at all and suddenly our whole life is concentrated in a single moment."
The concept of kairos carries this idea of the emergence of opportunity, the emergence of possibility and action at the appropriate time. It is at that moment and not another that the desired result occurs. Neither before nor after, neither too late nor too early, at the right time, at the right time. And to be able to act in that precise period of time, it is not only necessary the “sense of opportunity”, but also being attentive and prepared to intervene.
Acting from a state of deep commitment not only generates the "coincidences" of synchronicity but also allows us to be alert and ready to act effectively at the right time. Voltaire argued that " Luck is what happens when preparation and opportunity meet and merge."
Luck is what happens when preparation and opportunity meet and merge
