Have you recently made any commitments to others? At work, home, church, in your neighborhood? Do you intend to follow through on what you said you’d do? I would imagine you’ll do what you said, or you’d not have committed to doing it.

The commitments we make to others are important, but they don’t matter much, if we don’t first make the commitment within ourselves. What promises do you make to you?

For the things you agree to do or follow-through on, you must first commit within yourself in your gut level integrity center.

Years ago, while visiting with a couple of close friends, their daughter Lynn arrived home from school. That day in her third grade class, Lynn had not done what she was supposed to do, and she had also been disruptive.

The teacher sent a note to the parents notifying them of what happened. They were to talk with Lynn about it, then sign the paper, so Lynn could take it back to school.

They took a moment to go in an adjoining room with Lynn and talk this over. They discussed what happened. Lynn expressed how she felt about it all, and how she had gotten engaged in the issue.

After a few minutes of discussion on how to avoid having this happen again, the parents asked Lynn to work on it.

I heard a pause in the conversation. Lynn then very calmly, and with sincere conviction, said to her parents, “I promise myself, I won’t do that again. And that I will do my best in class.”

“I promise myself….” That stopped me in my tracks. I don’t think up to that point in my life I’d ever looked at commitment and promises from that perspective. The real commitment is not what I make to others—it’s the one I make to myself. If I don’t live the promise or commitment to me, my word is worth very little.

Every day, choose wisely the paths you commit to. And when you do decide to travel that road, make a vow to yourself to do your best—not half hearted, but your all out best. Because for others to receive your best, you must first commit to being your best, within.