We all have things that we want to accomplish and goals we want to achieve. Desire is a normal part of our human experience. Yet somewhere between desire and achievement, it all seems to fall apart.

We struggle within a haze of, “Someday …” and, “Well, at least I tried.”

Experts the-world-over have written about how to change habits and how to achieve our goals – there is no dearth of information on the subject. But still, we continue the “how to” Google searches.

There is little said about the first step needed to achieve our goals and change our habits. And as a result, we often start our journey by jumping straight to the “how.”

How will I lose 15 pounds before the summer weather hits?

I will eat healthy food, exercise five days a week, and drink 8 glasses of water a day.  That sounds great!

And when Monday morning rolls around, I’m on my third cup of coffee before I realize I haven’t had one drink of water.

I’m not even 24-hours in and I’m already failing. Maybe that approach isn’t such a good one after all.

So, I Google around a little bit more and find a weight loss guru who tells me that all I have to do is eat grapefruit for every meal for 4 weeks. Perfect! I love grapefruit and this is easy! I don’t need to do a lot of cooking, and grocery shopping has never been easier.

But, you guessed it; by day two I’m wondering if anyone has ever attempted to deep-fry them.

And so it goes. More searching and more looking for the best “how.”

It’s a lot like watching endless YouTube videos about how to swim, but never going to the pool.

The first step to true change is commitment. What I mean by commitment is the action we take to organize ourselves to move in a chosen direction.

Commitment in this context means that we have no idea “how” we will create the results that we desire, but that we will choose actions that move us in that direction.

Without commitment, the how doesn’t matter.

With commitment, someday eventually turns into today.