THE COMMITMENT BUSINESS

Karen Kenney: 00:00:01

Hey you guys, welcome to the Karen Kenney

Karen Kenney: 00:00:03

show. I'm super duper excited to be here with you today, and I'm

Karen Kenney: 00:00:06

just going to dive right into this suck up. So you know, one

Karen Kenney: 00:00:10

of the things that happens a lot in my life is that I'll be

Karen Kenney: 00:00:13

talking with my sweetie about something, something that's

Karen Kenney: 00:00:16

going on with me or the world, or a thought that I'm having or

Karen Kenney: 00:00:19

whatever. You know, he's the person that I tend to like

Karen Kenney: 00:00:22

bounce a lot of things off of first and foremost, number one,

Karen Kenney: 00:00:25

because he lives with me. It's kind of, he's kind of stuck with

Karen Kenney: 00:00:30

me. But we were having a conversation the other day about

Karen Kenney: 00:00:33

my business, and I added something out loud, and I

Karen Kenney: 00:00:37

thought, Oh, this is, this would be great for me to talk about on

Karen Kenney: 00:00:40

the show. So here we are. That's where the that's where this idea

Karen Kenney: 00:00:43

came from today. So I'm going to call this sucker, I think,

Karen Kenney: 00:00:46

something like the commitment business, the commitment

Karen Kenney: 00:00:50

business, because that's basically what I said to him.

Karen Kenney: 00:00:53

And before we dive into the story, let's just kind of break

Karen Kenney: 00:00:56

down this word commitment we I think we all have some

Karen Kenney: 00:01:00

experience with this word, whether it's positive, negative,

Karen Kenney: 00:01:04

whatever. Maybe you dated somebody who wouldn't, quote,

Karen Kenney: 00:01:07

unquote, commit. Maybe you find yourself overly committed these

Karen Kenney: 00:01:12

days, but like, let's get into it. So when we look at the word

Karen Kenney: 00:01:15

commitment as a noun, here's some of the several meanings of

Karen Kenney: 00:01:18

this word. Number one, it's an agreement or a pledge to do

Karen Kenney: 00:01:23

something in the future, okay? So a commitment may be to

Karen Kenney: 00:01:29

improve working conditions or a commitment to your favorite

Karen Kenney: 00:01:34

football team, okay? It could be an engagement to assume, also a

Karen Kenney: 00:01:39

financial obligation at a future date, right? Making a financial

Karen Kenney: 00:01:42

commitment. There's also pledging something, something

Karen Kenney: 00:01:46

that you pledge, you know, a commitment to support the troops

Karen Kenney: 00:01:51

or whatever. All right, I'm just making these up. A commitment

Karen Kenney: 00:01:55

to, this is the next meeting, a promise to be loyal to someone

Karen Kenney: 00:02:00

or something. We're going to get into that one as well. And then

Karen Kenney: 00:02:05

the last one we'll use for today is the attitude of someone who

Karen Kenney: 00:02:09

works

Unknown: 00:02:09

had to do or to support something.

Karen Kenney: 00:02:14

And I love this idea of commitment. I talk about

Karen Kenney: 00:02:18

it a lot, especially with my clients. And sometimes, when I'm

Karen Kenney: 00:02:22

talking about having a daily spiritual practice, I always

Karen Kenney: 00:02:25

talk about the 5d of a DSP a daily spiritual practice, and I

Karen Kenney: 00:02:30

tend to use D words, right, dedication, determination,

Karen Kenney: 00:02:33

discipline and devotion, which are very similar to this idea of

Karen Kenney: 00:02:37

commitment. And I think this show today is important because

Karen Kenney: 00:02:40

my my aim is, my hope is, is that by the end of it, you're

Karen Kenney: 00:02:43

going to get a little more clarity, like I did about what

Karen Kenney: 00:02:47

you're actually committing to these days. Some other words

Karen Kenney: 00:02:51

though real quick, because, you know, I'm kind of a word geek,

Karen Kenney: 00:02:53

that are similar synonyms to commitment are things like

Karen Kenney: 00:02:58

dedication, loyalty, allegiance, devotion, fidelity,

Karen Kenney: 00:03:01

faithfulness, steadfastness, which is one of my favorite

Karen Kenney: 00:03:05

words, faith, constancy, consistency. Okay, these are all

Karen Kenney: 00:03:11

really important things. So here's the story. Piece of this.

Karen Kenney: 00:03:15

I was talking to my sweetie because we were planning a

Karen Kenney: 00:03:18

couple of classes together, and we were planning, like, live

Karen Kenney: 00:03:21

music and yoga classes, and I had been asked to teach a yoga

Karen Kenney: 00:03:24

class at a location here in New Hampshire. And I have my own

Karen Kenney: 00:03:31

little space, my own little studio where I teach my classes.

Karen Kenney: 00:03:33

But this was like, in addition to and when I was talking with

Karen Kenney: 00:03:37

the people who were hosting the class, who were hosting me, we

Karen Kenney: 00:03:41

were talking about like, Hey, do we want to make this a

Karen Kenney: 00:03:43

commitment based class, or do we want to just do it as a drop in?

Karen Kenney: 00:03:47

Meaning, people can do whatever they want to do, show up, not

Karen Kenney: 00:03:51

show up, so they're not committed until they go in the

Karen Kenney: 00:03:53

room and, like, pay the money. And I basically was saying to

Karen Kenney: 00:03:57

them, Well, look, I'm in the commitment business. That's how

Karen Kenney: 00:04:00

I run my business. So this is like, you know, hosted at your

Karen Kenney: 00:04:03

place, so we can do it however you want to do it. I tend to be

Karen Kenney: 00:04:07

like, again, like I said, like helping people to commit

Karen Kenney: 00:04:11

upfront. And there's a reason why I do that, which I'm going

Karen Kenney: 00:04:13

to get into in a minute. But when you look at the way that I

Karen Kenney: 00:04:16

work, if I work with somebody in one to one spiritual mentoring,

Karen Kenney: 00:04:20

right, they have to commit to a certain amount of time. It's not

Karen Kenney: 00:04:24

like, oh, let's just do one month and then see how it goes.

Karen Kenney: 00:04:27

Right? Whenever you're working with me, whether it's in a day

Karen Kenney: 00:04:31

long, like a hot to hot day, which is just a day of coaching

Karen Kenney: 00:04:35

over Voxer. So you don't even have to get on, you don't even

Karen Kenney: 00:04:38

have to commit to getting on a call, right? You can just commit

Karen Kenney: 00:04:40

to using the Voxer app so you can do voice messaging and text

Karen Kenney: 00:04:45

messaging or whatever. And that's really great for some

Karen Kenney: 00:04:47

people, because they don't want to commit. They don't want to

Karen Kenney: 00:04:50

commit to like having to be on screen and be seen and sit their

Karen Kenney: 00:04:54

ass down for this specific amount of time right day of

Karen Kenney: 00:04:59

voxing. I. A day of Voxer coaching. For some people works

Karen Kenney: 00:05:02

great because what you're committing to is either, like a

Karen Kenney: 00:05:04

three hour chunk of time or a six hour chunk of time, but it

Karen Kenney: 00:05:09

allows a little bit more freedom in your day, but they're still

Karen Kenney: 00:05:12

committing to that three hour chunk or that six hour chunk. If

Karen Kenney: 00:05:15

somebody works with me in one to one spiritual mentoring for the

Karen Kenney: 00:05:19

quest, which is like a four month commitment. They're

Karen Kenney: 00:05:21

committing to that, that four months we're committing that

Karen Kenney: 00:05:24

we're working together. When people sign up for my yoga

Karen Kenney: 00:05:27

class, the ones that I lead from my own space, right? I'm like an

Karen Kenney: 00:05:31

old school Kripalu Yoga teacher. So the way that we do it is you

Karen Kenney: 00:05:34

commit to an eight week chunk of classes. So it's not and the

Karen Kenney: 00:05:39

reason why I do that, and this is kind of getting to the

Karen Kenney: 00:05:41

heartbeat of this episode, is that I know humans. I know human

Karen Kenney: 00:05:46

nature. I know what it's like to be a person when you're just

Karen Kenney: 00:05:50

tired at the end of the day and you just don't feel like going.

Karen Kenney: 00:05:54

And one of the things that I know to be true is and people

Karen Kenney: 00:05:58

will often say, Oh, well, you get them to commit? Because that

Karen Kenney: 00:06:01

helps you as a business? Yes, because I'm not an idiot, right?

Karen Kenney: 00:06:07

What I mean is, like I've done this long enough to understand

Karen Kenney: 00:06:11

that the psychology of how people behave. So what I have

Karen Kenney: 00:06:14

found is, not only does it help me, because people are

Karen Kenney: 00:06:19

committing and paying upfront for that chunk of classes,

Karen Kenney: 00:06:22

right? It also helps them, right? And that I'm in the

Karen Kenney: 00:06:26

business of commitment, but I'm also in the business of helping

Karen Kenney: 00:06:30

people keep their word to themselves, helping people

Karen Kenney: 00:06:33

commit to their own change and transformation. And I just know

Karen Kenney: 00:06:38

that when people have, you know, committed, you know, and said,

Karen Kenney: 00:06:42

I'm going to show up. If they commit upfront, then they will

Karen Kenney: 00:06:46

usually do much better at showing up each week. If you

Karen Kenney: 00:06:51

just say to people, right? Like, for example, if you've ever

Karen Kenney: 00:06:54

belonged to a yoga studio, there are, you know, they'll say,

Karen Kenney: 00:06:57

Okay, here's a 10 class pass. Well, a 10 class pass that has a

Karen Kenney: 00:07:03

year to expire, people will often be incredibly sporadic,

Karen Kenney: 00:07:08

because they're like, Oh, I've got a I've got a year to use

Karen Kenney: 00:07:11

these that's not even one class a month. I'll just go when I

Karen Kenney: 00:07:15

feel like it to me that is not commitment. Do you know what I

Karen Kenney: 00:07:18

mean? The only thing, and I've said this before to a client,

Karen Kenney: 00:07:21

oh, the only thing you've committed so far is your money.

Karen Kenney: 00:07:26

And for some people, it's very easy to commit money and have no

Karen Kenney: 00:07:31

follow through, which we're going to get into in a minute.

Karen Kenney: 00:07:33

Okay, if you say, Hey, you have a monthly membership, and it's,

Karen Kenney: 00:07:39

I'm making this up. It's 150 bucks, right? But you can just

Karen Kenney: 00:07:43

come whenever you want to. Again, most people, a lot of the

Karen Kenney: 00:07:47

times, will just commit the money. They won't actually do

Karen Kenney: 00:07:50

the action. So the way that I've learned over the years is to

Karen Kenney: 00:07:53

help people keep their word to themselves, to their own

Karen Kenney: 00:07:57

intention, their own habit formation, that they're trying

Karen Kenney: 00:08:00

to create a new identity. They're trying to create that

Karen Kenney: 00:08:03

the change that they want to experience is to help them to

Karen Kenney: 00:08:08

commit. So I am in the business of commitment. You can't work

Karen Kenney: 00:08:11

with me like sporadically or wishy washy, right? I one of the

Karen Kenney: 00:08:17

things I often say to people is the universe cannot get behind

Karen Kenney: 00:08:23

wishy washy. You have to commit. And I'm going to share with you

Karen Kenney: 00:08:28

one of my favorite quotes on commitment after this, after

Karen Kenney: 00:08:31

we're done talking. And one of the other reasons why I wanted

Karen Kenney: 00:08:35

to talk about this today is my own show. You know how I often

Karen Kenney: 00:08:39

say you guys, that

Karen Kenney: 00:08:41

I do this podcast from my ears first, meaning, a lot of times I

Karen Kenney: 00:08:45

yeah, I'm talking to, quote, unquote you, but I'm also

Karen Kenney: 00:08:49

talking to myself, because I need to hear right from that

Karen Kenney: 00:08:53

smarty pants part of myself, the divine intelligence that is in

Karen Kenney: 00:08:56

me and moves through me, and we all have it. I'm not special,

Karen Kenney: 00:08:59

right? It's often like message to self first and foremost. So

Karen Kenney: 00:09:04

this is for me just as much as it is for you. So I'm in the

Karen Kenney: 00:09:08

business of commitment and helping people to show up for

Karen Kenney: 00:09:11

themselves, because if you don't show up, you don't actually

Karen Kenney: 00:09:15

change. And I kind of just want to talk about the way that we

Karen Kenney: 00:09:20

sabotage this idea of commitment. And one of the

Karen Kenney: 00:09:24

perfect examples I can give you is Planet Fitness. If you have

Karen Kenney: 00:09:29

ever been a member to Planet Fitness, the gym, right? Their

Karen Kenney: 00:09:32

model is a very low buy in rate. So it used to be $10 a month,

Karen Kenney: 00:09:38

and then there's, like, usually a little annual fee. Now they

Karen Kenney: 00:09:41

finally bumped it after years and years and years. And I used

Karen Kenney: 00:09:44

to work for Planet Fitness way back in like 1998 or 1999 like

Karen Kenney: 00:09:51

way back in the day, I was a personal trainer for them, and I

Karen Kenney: 00:09:55

taught yoga, like on the side there. But what they. Model does

Karen Kenney: 00:10:01

is they're so smart. Let me break it down for you. So what

Karen Kenney: 00:10:05

they know is that people will often be willing to commit a

Karen Kenney: 00:10:12

certain amount of money. They may not follow up with any

Karen Kenney: 00:10:16

action, but Planet Fitness doesn't care. I'm not saying the

Karen Kenney: 00:10:20

trainers who work there and stuff don't care. But as a

Karen Kenney: 00:10:23

corporation, as a larger entity, they're banking on you

Karen Kenney: 00:10:28

committing your $15 a month, or your 2499 black card, whatever,

Karen Kenney: 00:10:32

a month, and then probably not showing up, which is great for

Karen Kenney: 00:10:37

them, because it's less wear and tear, right on the equipment, on

Karen Kenney: 00:10:41

the locker rooms, on the paper products, on the cleaning

Karen Kenney: 00:10:44

products, right? Less bodies in the space, less maintenance,

Karen Kenney: 00:10:48

less work that they have to do. You sometimes like less people.

Karen Kenney: 00:10:51

They have to hire whatever, but they're banking on the human

Karen Kenney: 00:10:55

behavior of I will commit my money, but not my action. And a

Karen Kenney: 00:11:02

lot of times, people are way more committed to an idea of

Karen Kenney: 00:11:07

doing something than actually doing it, like so many people

Karen Kenney: 00:11:13

are committed to the idea of change. And they'll say, oh,

Karen Kenney: 00:11:16

yeah, I want things to change, but when you ask them what

Karen Kenney: 00:11:20

they're doing to participate in the change actually happening.

Karen Kenney: 00:11:24

They often just stare at you with a blank face. People often

Karen Kenney: 00:11:29

want the change without doing the work. Not everybody. I'm

Karen Kenney: 00:11:33

just saying, a lot of people. You may have even experienced

Karen Kenney: 00:11:37

this with yourself. You might say like, oh, I want to do X, Y

Karen Kenney: 00:11:42

and Z. And you get all jazzed up, and you're like, I'm going

Karen Kenney: 00:11:45

to do the thing, da, da, da. But when it actually comes to

Karen Kenney: 00:11:48

putting that action into place, whether that's actually creating

Karen Kenney: 00:11:51

a plan, laying your clothes out the night before, prepping your

Karen Kenney: 00:11:55

meals, like setting up the appointment, like whatever the

Karen Kenney: 00:11:58

thing is, we're more enamored and committed to the idea than

Karen Kenney: 00:12:02

to actually taking the action. And, you know, it was

Karen Kenney: 00:12:07

interesting, because when I was talking to my sweetie, he was

Karen Kenney: 00:12:11

talking about how, you know, as a professional musician, people

Karen Kenney: 00:12:15

often come up to him at his gigs or events or whatever afterwards

Karen Kenney: 00:12:20

to talk to him, whether it's about his guitar, or to tell him

Karen Kenney: 00:12:24

that they are either also a musician. But one of the biggest

Karen Kenney: 00:12:27

things he gets is that people will come up to him and say to

Karen Kenney: 00:12:30

him, I've always wanted to learn how to play guitar. And he will

Karen Kenney: 00:12:35

always look at them and he'll say, well, he doesn't say, in my

Karen Kenney: 00:12:38

mind, I hear I'm like this. Well, you're not dead yet,

Karen Kenney: 00:12:40

right? If you're alive and you're nimble and you have a

Karen Kenney: 00:12:43

guitar, you have access to an instrument, you can learn, you

Karen Kenney: 00:12:46

know, and he'll say to them, well, you can still learn. But

Karen Kenney: 00:12:50

what it means is you actually have to practice. So, you know,

Karen Kenney: 00:12:54

we laugh, because a lot of times when we watch a TV show, or you

Karen Kenney: 00:12:59

see somebody on a zoom call or whatever. A lot of times I will

Karen Kenney: 00:13:02

see instruments in the background. And we often laugh

Karen Kenney: 00:13:05

about how the cool guy always has, like the guitar on the wall

Karen Kenney: 00:13:08

in the background, right? And whenever we see that, like in

Karen Kenney: 00:13:11

real life, he says, You know, I wonder, how many people actually

Karen Kenney: 00:13:14

play them, right? They're there, but do they actually pick them

Karen Kenney: 00:13:18

up and play them? And he said to me, you know, he's like, it's

Karen Kenney: 00:13:22

interesting, like, there are certain gigs that he does, or

Karen Kenney: 00:13:24

whatever, and the same people will, like, come to that gig,

Karen Kenney: 00:13:28

and even if it's a once a year gig, the same people will come

Karen Kenney: 00:13:32

up to him, because, like, the first time, they'll say to him,

Karen Kenney: 00:13:36

I really want to learn how to play guitar. And he'll say,

Karen Kenney: 00:13:38

okay, like, this is just, you just got to pick it up, man,

Karen Kenney: 00:13:40

learn a few chords, like, data, right? Like, he supports them,

Karen Kenney: 00:13:43

and he's very, very encouraging. And then he'll see them the

Karen Kenney: 00:13:46

following year at the same event, and he'll say, How's it

Karen Kenney: 00:13:49

going, like, how's it going, like, with, with the, with the,

Karen Kenney: 00:13:52

you know, learning the guitar. And they'll say, oh, yeah, I

Karen Kenney: 00:13:54

haven't really started yet. And he's like, you know, this

Karen Kenney: 00:13:57

happens year after year after year. People will have the

Karen Kenney: 00:14:00

guitar just sitting there collecting dust, and that's a

Karen Kenney: 00:14:04

really good example of like you're committed what you're

Karen Kenney: 00:14:07

committed to, what all your commitment level, you were

Karen Kenney: 00:14:10

committed enough to buy a guitar, maybe, but that was it.

Karen Kenney: 00:14:14

And the sneaky thing about this, right? The sneaky thing about

Karen Kenney: 00:14:18

this with the brain is you get that little dopamine hit, right?

Karen Kenney: 00:14:22

Like, you get that little that sense of satisfaction of

Karen Kenney: 00:14:25

checking something off the list, right? Like, there are people

Karen Kenney: 00:14:28

who are like, I'm going to start working out, or I'm going to

Karen Kenney: 00:14:30

start coming to yoga, and they'll buy some yoga pants,

Karen Kenney: 00:14:33

they'll get their yoga mat, they'll get their props, but

Karen Kenney: 00:14:36

then they never do it, because you get that little hit. You get

Karen Kenney: 00:14:40

that little rush from just doing that part of it, right? You

Karen Kenney: 00:14:45

committed just enough, but not enough to be effective, not

Karen Kenney: 00:14:49

enough to actually, like, create change. So it's a really humans.

Karen Kenney: 00:14:53

You know, we're so interesting, and I'm not trying to be mean to

Karen Kenney: 00:14:57

everybody. The reason why I'm talking. About this today is I

Karen Kenney: 00:15:02

want to put forth, because this is the question I just had to

Karen Kenney: 00:15:04

ask myself, right in 2026, in this span of months, or

Karen Kenney: 00:15:08

whatever, you know, in this made up time right? This made up time

Karen Kenney: 00:15:12

frame, or whatever, like, what am I committed to this year? And

Karen Kenney: 00:15:17

that is often paired with the same question I asked a couple

Karen Kenney: 00:15:21

of podcasts ago, which is, like, how much bandwidth do you

Karen Kenney: 00:15:24

actually have? Like, how much capacity, like, resources, time,

Karen Kenney: 00:15:29

money, attention, energy, whatever do you actually have?

Karen Kenney: 00:15:33

So we have to be really selective. We have to be really,

Karen Kenney: 00:15:37

like, wicked clear, wicked clear about what actually matters to

Karen Kenney: 00:15:43

us, and if we're wasting a lot of time doing shit that at the

Karen Kenney: 00:15:48

end of the day, like, I literally think Memento Mori,

Karen Kenney: 00:15:51

right? Like I'm very aware of my own mortality and the fact that

Karen Kenney: 00:15:54

I'm going to die, so I'm always like, okay with the amount of

Karen Kenney: 00:15:57

time that I have left, what do I want to spend my time doing and

Karen Kenney: 00:16:01

who do I want to do it with? Where am I pouring my vital

Karen Kenney: 00:16:06

resources into? You can't get time back. You know what I mean.

Karen Kenney: 00:16:11

And it's like if you're wasting your time hanging out with

Karen Kenney: 00:16:15

people you don't like, who is who are doing shit you don't

Karen Kenney: 00:16:17

really want to do, like we have to check ourselves if we're

Karen Kenney: 00:16:22

putting more time into and I'm just making these up, right?

Karen Kenney: 00:16:25

Like sitting on our ass when we said I want to run a 5k this

Karen Kenney: 00:16:29

year, or I want to get stronger, because the doctor told me that

Karen Kenney: 00:16:33

my bone density isn't great, but yet you're not lifting weights

Karen Kenney: 00:16:36

or, like, and I'm used, I use physical stuff because that's

Karen Kenney: 00:16:39

just like, easier. Sometimes it could be, I want to commit to

Karen Kenney: 00:16:42

not smoking. I want to commit to spending more time with my kids.

Karen Kenney: 00:16:46

I want to commit to for me, right? Because I'm just going to

Karen Kenney: 00:16:49

say this, like finishing your book, writing your book, that is

Karen Kenney: 00:16:52

one of my commitments this year. I've talked about it in the

Karen Kenney: 00:16:56

past. And look, the reality of it is, when you're an

Karen Kenney: 00:16:58

entrepreneur, there's 1000 ways to get distracted. There's 1000

Karen Kenney: 00:17:02

ways to be like, Oh, but I have to focus on keeping a roof over

Karen Kenney: 00:17:06

my head, making money, X, Y and Z. But at the end of the day, at

Karen Kenney: 00:17:11

the end of my life, I'm not going to regret not having more

Karen Kenney: 00:17:16

yoga classes, right? I will regret not finishing this book.

Karen Kenney: 00:17:20

So that's one of my commitments to myself, and that's the key

Karen Kenney: 00:17:24

there, the commitment to yourself. And I'm hitting my

Karen Kenney: 00:17:28

chest when I do this. This is why we really have to know

Karen Kenney: 00:17:33

ourselves, understand ourselves, understand who we are, what we

Karen Kenney: 00:17:37

really want, and understand how we self sabotage about the

Karen Kenney: 00:17:43

things that we say we really want, because it's really easy

Karen Kenney: 00:17:48

to do lip service and to say, Well, I'm committed to this

Karen Kenney: 00:17:53

thing when you're really not. You know, in my sweetie said to

Karen Kenney: 00:17:56

me, you know, some people just actually have he goes, some

Karen Kenney: 00:18:00

people have no commitment. And I said to him, I disagree, and

Karen Kenney: 00:18:04

he's like, What do you mean? And I said, I think everybody has

Karen Kenney: 00:18:08

commitment, but I just think some people are committed to not

Karen Kenney: 00:18:13

committing. I'll say that again. I think some people are

Karen Kenney: 00:18:18

committed to not committing, right? And I just think like to

Karen Kenney: 00:18:23

not commit is really easy. It's another way that we kind of get

Karen Kenney: 00:18:29

out of

Karen Kenney: 00:18:31

how to what's the word I'm looking for, let me say it this

Karen Kenney: 00:18:34

way. It's another way that we actually try to protect

Karen Kenney: 00:18:36

ourselves. And maybe you've done this yourself. I know I did it

Karen Kenney: 00:18:40

when I was younger, for sure, which is, you're too afraid to

Karen Kenney: 00:18:45

fail, so you do it half ass, and then if you do fail, nobody can

Karen Kenney: 00:18:51

make fun of you or make you feel bad or stupid or whatever,

Karen Kenney: 00:18:54

because you can just shrug it off and say to yourself, yeah,

Karen Kenney: 00:18:56

but I didn't really try that hard anyways, because we're

Karen Kenney: 00:18:59

afraid of our own capacity to actually do a thing. And, you

Karen Kenney: 00:19:04

know, there's certain things you just have to go full boring.

Karen Kenney: 00:19:07

Like, I would just not be interested in being married to

Karen Kenney: 00:19:11

somebody who was, like, half committed. You know what I mean,

Karen Kenney: 00:19:15

like, I don't want a business partner who's like, yeah, kind

Karen Kenney: 00:19:18

of gives a shit. You know what I mean, it's like, I really geek

Karen Kenney: 00:19:22

out on people who are really consistent and committed. And

Karen Kenney: 00:19:27

yes, that does something, of course, selfishly to my nervous

Karen Kenney: 00:19:30

system. When people are really wishy washy, right? That's not

Karen Kenney: 00:19:34

that soothing to be around. When you're like, I don't know, do

Karen Kenney: 00:19:36

they even really give a shit about me or this person or this

Karen Kenney: 00:19:39

project or this thing, like, I can't rely on them because

Karen Kenney: 00:19:43

they're so wishy washy, right? It's really nice to be in the

Karen Kenney: 00:19:47

presence of people who are committed to their word and to

Karen Kenney: 00:19:52

their work and to doing their best to commit. If they say,

Karen Kenney: 00:19:56

like, hey, you know that's why, like, I don't make promises in

Karen Kenney: 00:19:59

my business. You know, people will like, well, if I spend this

Karen Kenney: 00:20:01

money and I work with you, are you guaranteeing? Are you

Karen Kenney: 00:20:04

promising that I'm going to have this change? And I said, No, I

Karen Kenney: 00:20:07

can't promise that. You know why? Because I can't promise

Karen Kenney: 00:20:12

your level of commitment. I can only promise you I'm like,

Karen Kenney: 00:20:16

here's what I can promise you, I'm going to fucking show up.

Karen Kenney: 00:20:19

I'm going to show up 110% I'm going to be here, and I'm going

Karen Kenney: 00:20:22

to support you and guide as much as I can, and cheerlead and try

Karen Kenney: 00:20:26

to extract from you and show you your own brilliance and your own

Karen Kenney: 00:20:29

genius. And I'm also probably going to point out a little bit

Karen Kenney: 00:20:32

of your own bullshit, right in a kind way, in a loving but firm

Karen Kenney: 00:20:35

way. We can laugh about it. I can't, though, guarantee your

Karen Kenney: 00:20:40

level of commitment again, because sometimes people will

Karen Kenney: 00:20:44

just commit their money, but they won't actually, oh, they'll

Karen Kenney: 00:20:48

commit with their word, whatever, but they don't

Karen Kenney: 00:20:50

actually commit to doing the action, to taking the action.

Karen Kenney: 00:20:57

And if you find that you're a person who is more committed to

Karen Kenney: 00:21:00

the idea of a thing like, you get really excited, you know, in

Karen Kenney: 00:21:04

this, this shows up, perhaps in your life. And we've all done

Karen Kenney: 00:21:09

this, right? I'm not pointing fingers at anybody, but if

Karen Kenney: 00:21:12

you're a person who tends to stat a lot of things but doesn't

Karen Kenney: 00:21:15

finish them right, you'll see like, oh, I wasn't committed to

Karen Kenney: 00:21:18

seeing this through. You might just be committed to getting

Karen Kenney: 00:21:21

that first dopamine rush, or maybe you just got bored of it.

Karen Kenney: 00:21:24

And I don't think we should see every single thing in our life

Karen Kenney: 00:21:29

through. There are times when you have to realize halfway. Oh,

Karen Kenney: 00:21:32

the most committed thing, the thing I can be most committed

Karen Kenney: 00:21:35

here to here, is the integrity of realizing I made a mistake

Karen Kenney: 00:21:38

and I shouldn't. I shouldn't follow through on this, right?

Karen Kenney: 00:21:41

Like, we got to be willing to say, like, Ooh, yeah, I

Karen Kenney: 00:21:44

committing. Like, quitting. This would be the best commitment I

Karen Kenney: 00:21:47

could make right now. So, yeah, so this is really just an

Karen Kenney: 00:21:52

invitation to look at the different buckets in your life,

Karen Kenney: 00:21:56

and to look at maybe your financial life. Like, maybe you

Karen Kenney: 00:21:59

said I'm committed to saving money this year, but you haven't

Karen Kenney: 00:22:02

really been doing that. You didn't set up an automatic

Karen Kenney: 00:22:04

deposit, or you didn't set up a jar at home where you put some

Karen Kenney: 00:22:07

extra cash in or whatever the thing is. So look at the areas

Karen Kenney: 00:22:11

of like finance. Look at the areas of relationships, right?

Karen Kenney: 00:22:14

Look at the areas of your work, your mental health, your well

Karen Kenney: 00:22:18

being, your physical being. So just look at those four buckets

Karen Kenney: 00:22:21

of like, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, and

Karen Kenney: 00:22:24

say, like, how committed am I? And then just getting really

Karen Kenney: 00:22:27

clear about what you have, the time, the energy, the resources,

Karen Kenney: 00:22:32

whatever, to commit to it, because there's only so much

Karen Kenney: 00:22:35

bandwidth. There's so many hours in a day, and we don't want to

Karen Kenney: 00:22:38

be wasting our time, man, like we're at an age where it's like,

Karen Kenney: 00:22:42

again, I come back to this thing where I say, the universe can't

Karen Kenney: 00:22:46

get behind wishy washy. So getting some clarity. Like, get

Karen Kenney: 00:22:49

out some colored pens or something. I'm holding these up.

Karen Kenney: 00:22:52

Get yourself a notebook. You know what I mean? Holding that

Karen Kenney: 00:22:54

up and, like, write some shit down. Just get really clear.

Karen Kenney: 00:22:59

It's only February, right? So maybe you started January with

Karen Kenney: 00:23:02

this idea of, like, this is what I'm going to commit to, this is

Karen Kenney: 00:23:06

what I'm going to do. And here you are in February, and you're

Karen Kenney: 00:23:09

realizing, like, Oh, that's not quite it. Great. Tweak it. You

Karen Kenney: 00:23:12

get to change your mind. That's awesome. There's a difference

Karen Kenney: 00:23:16

between changing your mind, right, and being what I mean,

Karen Kenney: 00:23:23

fickle, right? Just being like, I don't feel like it. You know

Karen Kenney: 00:23:26

what I mean? There are plenty of days where I'm like, I don't

Karen Kenney: 00:23:29

feel like lifting these weights right now. And I love to lift, I

Karen Kenney: 00:23:32

love the strength train. But there are just days I am not in

Karen Kenney: 00:23:35

the mood. I don't feel like it. You know what I say to myself,

Karen Kenney: 00:23:38

it doesn't matter that you don't feel like it. And it's one of

Karen Kenney: 00:23:41

the things that I often to say to people like about the gym or

Karen Kenney: 00:23:45

yoga or hiking or moving your body, going for a run, whatever

Karen Kenney: 00:23:49

the thing is, right? I often say, I never regret coming to

Karen Kenney: 00:23:53

yoga afterwards. I never regret going to the gym afterwards. I

Karen Kenney: 00:23:57

never regret I mean, unless I hurt myself or something, you

Karen Kenney: 00:24:00

know, that would be another thing, but it is so rare. I have

Karen Kenney: 00:24:03

almost never regretted moving my body. You know that some of the

Karen Kenney: 00:24:08

things, though, because we're talking about these actions,

Karen Kenney: 00:24:11

that I think need to be on the list though, is, what is your

Karen Kenney: 00:24:15

commitment to justice? What is your commitment to inclusion?

Karen Kenney: 00:24:19

What is your commitment to kindness. What is your

Karen Kenney: 00:24:21

commitment to compassion? What is your commitment to being a

Karen Kenney: 00:24:24

good neighbor? What is your commitment to voting? What is

Karen Kenney: 00:24:28

your commitment to these things that really, really matter, and

Karen Kenney: 00:24:32

they matter? Sorry, I'm getting blinded by the sun coming in all

Karen Kenney: 00:24:35

over you. What really matters in this world beyond just us?

Karen Kenney: 00:24:39

Because it's so easy to get focused on the Me, me, me, me.

Karen Kenney: 00:24:45

But our levels of commitment also affect our loved ones, our

Karen Kenney: 00:24:49

family, our neighbors, our community, our city, our

Karen Kenney: 00:24:53

country, you know what I mean? So also looking at that like, am

Karen Kenney: 00:24:57

I committed? You know, as a kid who is. Raised like I laugh and

Karen Kenney: 00:25:01

I think about this, you know, so many of us who are Gen X people

Karen Kenney: 00:25:05

like we were raised partially by the television our friends did

Karen Kenney: 00:25:09

it like we all raised each other because we were all feral. We

Karen Kenney: 00:25:13

all kind of raised each other. But we also were raised by like,

Karen Kenney: 00:25:16

you know, Bob Ross and Steve Irwin and Fred Rogers, and they

Karen Kenney: 00:25:21

had commitment. You know, they had commitment to us, and they

Karen Kenney: 00:25:27

taught us so many things, but those things don't mean anything

Karen Kenney: 00:25:31

if we don't apply them and put them into action. Now, look,

Karen Kenney: 00:25:34

those might not be your guys. You might not resonate with

Karen Kenney: 00:25:37

them. Maybe for you it was like the electric company or Sesame

Karen Kenney: 00:25:40

Street or some other like books you read whatever like for me

Karen Kenney: 00:25:44

too, right? There are certain characters in certain books,

Karen Kenney: 00:25:47

like, I love a book any kind, whether it's Stephen King the

Karen Kenney: 00:25:53

doc Tower series to the Harry Bosch series by Michael Conley.

Karen Kenney: 00:25:57

I love people with a code. I'm really into that, right? I love

Karen Kenney: 00:26:02

stories of characters that have a code because that's their

Karen Kenney: 00:26:06

level of commitment. They are committed to an idea like Harry

Karen Kenney: 00:26:09

Bosch's commitment was, everybody matters or nobody

Karen Kenney: 00:26:12

matters. So he didn't care the color of your skin, if you were

Karen Kenney: 00:26:16

a junkie, if you were a rich white person, if you were like a

Karen Kenney: 00:26:21

prostitute. If you were work like a little kid, an old

Karen Kenney: 00:26:24

person, whatever. He didn't care the victim was the victim, and

Karen Kenney: 00:26:27

he was going to work just as hard on behalf of solving the

Karen Kenney: 00:26:30

crime, the murder, whatever, regardless of their history,

Karen Kenney: 00:26:34

their background, their whatever. And he was committed

Karen Kenney: 00:26:37

to that commitment is a very sexy thing. You know what I'm

Karen Kenney: 00:26:40

saying, like when people put a stake in the ground and they

Karen Kenney: 00:26:43

say, I'm committed to working this out, I'm committed to

Karen Kenney: 00:26:47

solving this problem with you. I'm committed to not walking

Karen Kenney: 00:26:50

away. I'm committed to putting in the time, the hours. I'm

Karen Kenney: 00:26:53

committed to beyond the idea. I'm committed to the living,

Karen Kenney: 00:26:58

breathing entity of this commitment that is a powerful,

Karen Kenney: 00:27:02

powerful thing. And I want to kind of leave you with one of my

Karen Kenney: 00:27:07

favorite quotes, and it's supposedly from a climber, a

Karen Kenney: 00:27:11

mountaineer, William Hutchinson Murray on the Scottish Himalayan

Karen Kenney: 00:27:15

expedition. And I'll read the full quote to you until one is

Karen Kenney: 00:27:21

committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always

Karen Kenney: 00:27:28

in effectiveness, concerning all acts of initiative and creation,

Karen Kenney: 00:27:34

there is one elementary truth, The ignorance of which kills

Karen Kenney: 00:27:39

countless ideas and splendid plans that the moment one

Karen Kenney: 00:27:46

definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves two.

Karen Kenney: 00:27:52

Let me say that part again, because it's so powerful, okay,

Karen Kenney: 00:27:56

the ignorance of this will kill countless ideas and splendid

Karen Kenney: 00:28:00

plans, meaning not knowing this truth that I'm about to say will

Karen Kenney: 00:28:05

kill all your ideas. So it's important. So this is the part

Karen Kenney: 00:28:08

to lean in. The moment one definitely commits oneself, then

Karen Kenney: 00:28:13

Providence moves to all sorts of things occur to help one that

Karen Kenney: 00:28:20

would never otherwise have occurred, a whole stream of

Karen Kenney: 00:28:24

events, issues from that decision, raising in one's favor

Karen Kenney: 00:28:30

all manner of unforeseen incidents, meanings and material

Karen Kenney: 00:28:35

assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his

Karen Kenney: 00:28:38

way. I have learned a deep respect for one of goat's

Karen Kenney: 00:28:42

couplets. Whatever you can do or dream, you can begin it.

Karen Kenney: 00:28:49

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. And

Karen Kenney: 00:28:57

that is speaking to that action portion of the commitment until

Karen Kenney: 00:29:02

one's committed. He's saying, there's this hesitancy, there's

Karen Kenney: 00:29:05

this ability for us to, like, you know, shuffle our feet and

Karen Kenney: 00:29:08

get wishy washy and draw back, and that always leads to

Karen Kenney: 00:29:11

ineffectiveness. Nothing gets done that way. He's saying,

Karen Kenney: 00:29:14

like, concerning whenever you have an idea, concerning when

Karen Kenney: 00:29:18

you have an active initiative or an opportunity to do something

Karen Kenney: 00:29:21

or create something. This one elementary truth, if you don't

Karen Kenney: 00:29:25

know this, it will kill your ideas, countless ideas. It will

Karen Kenney: 00:29:29

kill all your splendid plans. The moment you commit yourself,

Karen Kenney: 00:29:34

Providence will move too and all these resources, the people, the

Karen Kenney: 00:29:38

places, the money, the meetings, like everything that would never

Karen Kenney: 00:29:42

have otherwise occurred until you committed all of a sudden, a

Karen Kenney: 00:29:46

whole stream of events will show up things that you couldn't even

Karen Kenney: 00:29:50

dream of. And I remember when listening to Oprah talk that

Karen Kenney: 00:29:56

time when I met her and she said, You know, God dreams, a

Karen Kenney: 00:29:59

dream. Dream for me bigger than the one I can dream for myself.

Karen Kenney: 00:30:03

I'm paraphrasing, right? The divine, the universe that,

Karen Kenney: 00:30:06

whatever you want to call it, you know, the divine

Karen Kenney: 00:30:09

intelligence, your higher power, your highest self, right? There

Karen Kenney: 00:30:12

is something that dreams a dream for ourselves big enough, bigger

Karen Kenney: 00:30:15

than ever we could imagine. But we have to commit, and then once

Karen Kenney: 00:30:19

we commit, Providence will move too. How exciting is that? So

Karen Kenney: 00:30:26

remember, the universe can't get behind wishy washy. We have to

Karen Kenney: 00:30:29

commit. So again, this is just an invitation, enthusiastic

Karen Kenney: 00:30:34

invitation to encourage you to get serious about your life. We

Karen Kenney: 00:30:38

can get serious in a fun way, like sit down, like I said, get

Karen Kenney: 00:30:41

your colored pens, get out your highlighters, get your markers,

Karen Kenney: 00:30:44

start to dream into existence, right? And then follow it up

Karen Kenney: 00:30:48

with action. I'm in the business of commitment, right? If you're

Karen Kenney: 00:30:54

somebody who is also, like, into being committed, and you're

Karen Kenney: 00:30:56

like, Hey, I'm committed to, like, wanting to change some

Karen Kenney: 00:30:59

things, to transform some things I'm committed to getting to

Karen Kenney: 00:31:02

really know and understand and love and trust myself more.

Karen Kenney: 00:31:07

That's the business I'm in. So you can always reach me. Just go

Karen Kenney: 00:31:10

to my website, Karen kenney.com, k, e n, n, e y.com, and there's

Karen Kenney: 00:31:15

a tab. I mean, there's lots of ways to work with me, yoga,

Karen Kenney: 00:31:17

Thai, yoga, body work, coaching, etc, writing workshops, which I

Karen Kenney: 00:31:21

hope to be doing some more of, or salons and stuff this year.

Karen Kenney: 00:31:25

Okay, but remember, I'm in the commitment business. This is a

Karen Kenney: 00:31:29

great opportunity to ask you. Ask yourself, right? What am I

Karen Kenney: 00:31:32

committed to this year? And I always love to hear from you. So

Karen Kenney: 00:31:36

if you want to throw me a note and let me know what you're

Karen Kenney: 00:31:38

committed to this year, I'd love to hear about it. Okay, wrapping

Karen Kenney: 00:31:42

it up. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you're new here,

Karen Kenney: 00:31:45

welcome. I'm so happy you're here. If you're a loyal

Karen Kenney: 00:31:47

listener, you know how much I love and appreciate you. So

Karen Kenney: 00:31:50

thank you for being here and tuning in wherever you go,

Karen Kenney: 00:31:53

right? May you leave yourself in the animals and the people in

Karen Kenney: 00:31:57

the planet better than how you found it wherever you go. May

Karen Kenney: 00:32:00

you and your energy and your presence and your love and your

Karen Kenney: 00:32:03

commitment be a blessing. Bye, you.