Commitment

What?

            Commitment is fully engaging in the goals of the group, while also maintaining personal values, ideas, and motivations. I learned about commitment at many different points in my life. As a kid, I committed myself to girl scouts by going to meetings, and activities and selling cookies. I learned this in middle school when I auditioned and got into the musical. I committed myself by showing up to rehearsal, giving my all, and showing up for every show. I learned this in high school when I joined color guard. All four years of high school, I would show up to rehearsal, show up to shows, practice outside of rehearsal, and give it my all. In college, I learned this by committing to Virginia Tech, putting in hard work by going to class, doing my homework, and passing my tests.

So What?

            Why as we grow up do we need need to understand commitment? I believe commitment is vital to being a good member of society and not only that but also being a good leader. As people, we have many things in our life that we need to commit to. We need to commit to a school, family, friends, relationships, work, and many other things. If we don’t commit, we can have many holes in our lives. When we don’t commit, we can find disappointment in ourselves or in others. Not only that but we can also find a lack of trust if we don’t follow through. Commitment is about following through on what you said you will do.

Now What?

            As I talked about in my previous post, I discussed the summer camp I work at. This year, I almost didn’t go back. I found there was a lack of commitment to communicating the next summer with staff. This includes contracts getting out on time and responding to emails about them. It took me two months to hear back from the camp about getting my payment bumped and changing how the program works. I found that I had to reach out to other people at the camp that are more committed. I was able finally able to get the change I wanted in order to make the camp better for this upcoming summer. I find myself to be committed to this camp and the girls that go to it. I want to be able to make an impact on the camp for years to come even if I can’t be there in the future.

References

Komives, S. R., & Wagner, W. (Eds.). (2017). Leadership for a better world: Understanding the social change model of leadership development. John Wiley & Sons.