There’s a famous saying by Ken Blanchard who says, “There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses – only results.”
Being interested would push us to initiate the journey, make the first move or take the first step. Being committed would actually act as the force behind finishing the journey successfully. Mere interest won’t lead to success unless combined with commitment to fulfill the task. For instance, a person could be interested in losing weight and looking slimmer. But that doesn’t mean that the person would be able to do so successfully unless he/she is committed to do so. This shows the difference in commitment and interest. Being just interested may not wholly solve the purpose but being committed or a mix of interest plus commitment can make wonders happen. This could be so because interest has relatively short tenure than commitment. A person can lose interest in the process and this could affect the end result, be it personal lives or professional lives.
Thus there would be no excuses, no procrastination for a committed person whereas there could be delays, excuses, procrastination, frustration, etc. when a person would be interested. While we have talked much about how one would be benefited if a person would be both interested and committed, do we actually know the difference between the two? We actually often tend to get confused between the two, not able to actually sort out the difference between them. People often consider themselves as committed when in reality they would be interested. We would help you answer the question if you are actually committed or interested. Try figuring out the same with these simple differences:
• Convenience: The first point is adopted from Mr. Ken Blanchard’s quotes. When you are interested you would be doing things at your convenience while when you are committed, convenience doesn’t pop up there. You would fulfill the task anyhow without procrastinating and making excuses.
• Acceptance of challenges: You may not necessarily take up challenges if you are just interested in doing something. You may also opt to move back if the task is too challenging also leading to a loss of interest in the meantime. Whereas, however challenging the task would be, there would be no question of looking back or leaving the task midway.
• Failures: If you are merely interested, failures would stress you out leading to an aversion in moving ahead. Whereas failures would be considered as stepping stones to success and would be looked at with a more positive approach when you would be committed.
• Goals: The ultimate target is goals. The only difference would be that when you would be interested in achieving goals you would just set it but there would be a lack of effective strategies as a roadmap to achieve it. Whereas, when you would be committed you would set achievable goals and clear, definite strategies for achieving it.
These are some of the key differences which would help us figure out if we are just interested or committed or if there is a mixture of interest and commitment. Having said that it should not be forgotten that the best results can only be achieved when there is a presence of both the factors¬¬- interest and commitment in personal as well as professional lives. Now it’s your turn to determine whether you are interested or committed to derive the best results. It is equally applicable in your personal as well as professional lives to bring about transformation and positive change.
Written by Faber Ramya Pillai
