Public Declarations
This past week, I used something that I haven’t used for a long time – a public declaration. As everyone knows, personal goals and especially New Year’s resolutions are often very hard to commit to, especially when they are kept private since nobody except yourself will ever know that you backed out of them.
So when you tell everyone about one of your goals in public, you often become that much more committed to that goal since you don’t want to appear as a loser or some shmuck if you give up. It just so happens that with the internet, email and social media, making public declarations have become extremely easy.
Declare Your Goals For Full Commitments
However, since it has become so easy to simply announce what you intend to do online, you better be double sure that you will intend to achieve whatever goal you wish to work on. Since the whole world will know in second, many will not forget especially if you somehow fall off the wagon.
In my case, I made a very specific public declaration which I will repeat here in my blog. This of course will have the effect of making me even more fully committed to my goal.
“I publicly declare that I will do everything I can within my power to NOT let go of my health and fitness as I grow older.”
The photo above was just taken days ago at poolside and when I posted it along with my public declaration on my Facebook page, I also mentioned my current age which is 51. Many of my Facebook friends couldn’t believe that I’m 51 (which is a nice complement) but that doesn’t mean that I intend to slack off just because I seem to be ahead of the middle age fitness game.
Instead, I intend to use my current fitness level as a baseline standard and maintain this level as long as I possibly can, or even improve upon it. I’m motivated not only for personal health reasons but because of the public declaration I made, I want to keep my word in front of the public which already knows what my goal is.
Be Careful With Public Declarations
In my opinion, making public declarations can be one of the most powerful tools to use for your own personal development. However, you just have to be very careful since if you get careless with them by letting go of any goals made public, these public declarations can easily backfire on you and make you feel like a loser.
So use these public declarations wisely. They are VERY powerful but NEED to be respected.
By the way, feel free to use the comments section below to make any of your own public declarations. Be brave!
Thanks Clint! You have such a knack for distilling things down to their basic truth, and obviously you are walking the walk.
I’ve been working on something that I think merits public declaration as well. I thought I would like to share it with you and your other fans, since I know that you are a dog lover.
I publicly declare that I will do everything I can to help shut down puppy mills in Ontario and stop the cycle of suffering they cause, and I invite everyone, everywhere, to join me in speaking on behalf of those innocent dogs who need our help. Please click the link to sign my petition on Change.org: http://www.change.org/petitions/legislative-assembly-of-ontario-enact-legislation-to-shut-down-ontario-s-puppy-mills?utm_campaign=share_button_modal&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=27041552
It’s a disturbing issue, I know. But I believe it is only through knowledge that we can be equipped to take effective action, and only through collective action that we can achieve effective results. These poor innocent creatures depend on us for their very lives, and we need to speak loudly on their behalf if we are to help them!
Thanks again, Clint, for your generosity of spirit and service, and for giving me this space to add my 2 cents….
Warm regards,
Janice
Thanks for sharing your public declaration here Janice. Yes, folks, this is a worthy one in my opinion since I’m also a long time (since 1979) dedicated dog owner. Even if you are not a dog owner, you will feel better by supporting this action against puppy mills.