Power of Commitment
18 Aug 2021
This is an excerpt from the book ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING by JEFF KELLER.
Commitment Pays Off For Aspiring Novelist:
Several years ago, American Way magazine carried a fascinating interview with best-selling novelist David Baldacci. Baldacci is the author of the immensely successful novels Absolute Power, Total Control and The Winner. Millions of copies of his books have been sold.
Let me assure
you, however, that Baldacci was no overnight success. His accomplishments and
financial achievements were the result of his total commitment to developing
his talents as a writer. Like me (Jeff Keller),
Baldacci started out as a lawyer. He started law school in 1983 and didn’t give
any thought to becoming a best-selling novelist. He simply enjoyed writing.
Yet, at the
outset, Baldacci knew that he didn’t have the necessary writing skills. So he
made a commitment, as he put it, to learn the craft of writing. For the first
five years, he didn’t finish any of his projects. Every day, he just worked on
characters, plot development and other writing basics.
At that time,
he was a practicing lawyer, and he and his wife had two young children. When he
did find the time to do this writing? Baldacci worked on his writing every
night from 10:00 pm to 2:00 am. Now, that’s a commitment to do whatever it
takes! He pointed out, however that he had fun writing - it wasn’t a chore. By
the way, I’m not suggesting that you stay up all night to pursue your goals -
that 10:00 pm to 2:00 am shift certainly wouldn’t work for me (Jeff Keller), and it may not work for you either!
After 10
years of writing. Baldacci had completed some short stories and a few screenplays.His total sales: ZERO. All that he
had to show for his efforts were a lot of rejections from editors.
In 1996, all of Baldacci’s efforts paid off…big time! He received
millions of dollars for the literary and movie rights to his blockbuster
thriller Absolute Power. The star of the movie was Clint Eastwood.
Such is the power of a person who is committed.
The above excerpt make us understand that motivation can only get us started but commitment is
what will keep us going. This is the magic of commitment to our goals.
SO, WHAT IS
YOUR LEVEL OF COMMITMENT TO YOUR GOALS?
Written By
Sujitha Sanil
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