Commitment is something people talk about all the time but the real power in committing to a person, a path, or a cause, is in focus and sustained action. For example, you can say that you are committed to health and fitness, but if you seldom exercise and continue to eat fast-food on a daily basis, your commitment to health and fitness won’t amount to much.

So what does commitment really take?

True commitment takes sustained focused action. If you can “learn” (and the word learn is in quotes for a reason) to focus your attention and sustain well-thought out actions, then fantastic things can happen. Seriously, think of something in your own life that you are truly committed to: a partner, a child, a hobby, a cause, a job…. Don’t you find that for the things you are truly committed to, you find the time and energy to take actions to do something necessary or vital for the thing or person you are committed to?

Sustained, focused action can be learned.

My belief, born from my own experience and the experience of others, is that you can learn to focus and take positive actions, and if you take action in a sustained way, amazing things can happen. The unhealthy person can get healthy and fit, the individual deep in debt can rise out and become independent, and the troubled person can find a deep sense of peace and accomplishment.

Find the one area of your life where you already have a commitment and try applying some of the same feelings to another area of your life that you would like to make progress in. Don’t over complicate things. Just pick one or two actions that are important in that area and commit to doing them in a focused and sustained day for a week or a month. If you can do that, the benefits will be stunning. When you get the hang of improving one area of your life, pick a second and keep going. Momentum is contagious, and once you learn how to focus and take sustained action, you can apply this to almost anything that is important to you.