THE COMMITMENT BUSINESS

Hey you guys, welcome to the Karen Kenney

show. I'm super duper excited to be here with you today, and I'm

just going to dive right into this suck up. So you know, one

of the things that happens a lot in my life is that I'll be

talking with my sweetie about something, something that's

going on with me or the world, or a thought that I'm having or

whatever. You know, he's the person that I tend to like

bounce a lot of things off of first and foremost, number one,

because he lives with me. It's kind of, he's kind of stuck with

me. But we were having a conversation the other day about

my business, and I added something out loud, and I

thought, Oh, this is, this would be great for me to talk about on

the show. So here we are. That's where the that's where this idea

came from today. So I'm going to call this sucker, I think,

something like the commitment business, the commitment

business, because that's basically what I said to him.

And before we dive into the story, let's just kind of break

down this word commitment we I think we all have some

experience with this word, whether it's positive, negative,

whatever. Maybe you dated somebody who wouldn't, quote,

unquote, commit. Maybe you find yourself overly committed these

days, but like, let's get into it. So when we look at the word

commitment as a noun, here's some of the several meanings of

this word. Number one, it's an agreement or a pledge to do

something in the future, okay? So a commitment may be to

improve working conditions or a commitment to your favorite

football team, okay? It could be an engagement to assume, also a

financial obligation at a future date, right? Making a financial

commitment. There's also pledging something, something

that you pledge, you know, a commitment to support the troops

or whatever. All right, I'm just making these up. A commitment

to, this is the next meeting, a promise to be loyal to someone

or something. We're going to get into that one as well. And then

the last one we'll use for today is the attitude of someone who

works

had to do or to support something.

And I love this idea of commitment. I talk about

it a lot, especially with my clients. And sometimes, when I'm

talking about having a daily spiritual practice, I always

talk about the 5d of a DSP a daily spiritual practice, and I

tend to use D words, right, dedication, determination,

discipline and devotion, which are very similar to this idea of

commitment. And I think this show today is important because

my my aim is, my hope is, is that by the end of it, you're

going to get a little more clarity, like I did about what

you're actually committing to these days. Some other words

though real quick, because, you know, I'm kind of a word geek,

that are similar synonyms to commitment are things like

dedication, loyalty, allegiance, devotion, fidelity,

faithfulness, steadfastness, which is one of my favorite

words, faith, constancy, consistency. Okay, these are all

really important things. So here's the story. Piece of this.

I was talking to my sweetie because we were planning a

couple of classes together, and we were planning, like, live

music and yoga classes, and I had been asked to teach a yoga

class at a location here in New Hampshire. And I have my own

little space, my own little studio where I teach my classes.

But this was like, in addition to and when I was talking with

the people who were hosting the class, who were hosting me, we

were talking about like, Hey, do we want to make this a

commitment based class, or do we want to just do it as a drop in?

Meaning, people can do whatever they want to do, show up, not

show up, so they're not committed until they go in the

room and, like, pay the money. And I basically was saying to

them, Well, look, I'm in the commitment business. That's how

I run my business. So this is like, you know, hosted at your

place, so we can do it however you want to do it. I tend to be

like, again, like I said, like helping people to commit

upfront. And there's a reason why I do that, which I'm going

to get into in a minute. But when you look at the way that I

work, if I work with somebody in one to one spiritual mentoring,

right, they have to commit to a certain amount of time. It's not

like, oh, let's just do one month and then see how it goes.

Right? Whenever you're working with me, whether it's in a day

long, like a hot to hot day, which is just a day of coaching

over Voxer. So you don't even have to get on, you don't even

have to commit to getting on a call, right? You can just commit

to using the Voxer app so you can do voice messaging and text

messaging or whatever. And that's really great for some

people, because they don't want to commit. They don't want to

commit to like having to be on screen and be seen and sit their

ass down for this specific amount of time right day of

voxing. I. A day of Voxer coaching. For some people works

great because what you're committing to is either, like a

three hour chunk of time or a six hour chunk of time, but it

allows a little bit more freedom in your day, but they're still

committing to that three hour chunk or that six hour chunk. If

somebody works with me in one to one spiritual mentoring for the

quest, which is like a four month commitment. They're

committing to that, that four months we're committing that

we're working together. When people sign up for my yoga

class, the ones that I lead from my own space, right? I'm like an

old school Kripalu Yoga teacher. So the way that we do it is you

commit to an eight week chunk of classes. So it's not and the

reason why I do that, and this is kind of getting to the

heartbeat of this episode, is that I know humans. I know human

nature. I know what it's like to be a person when you're just

tired at the end of the day and you just don't feel like going.

And one of the things that I know to be true is and people

will often say, Oh, well, you get them to commit? Because that

helps you as a business? Yes, because I'm not an idiot, right?

What I mean is, like I've done this long enough to understand

that the psychology of how people behave. So what I have

found is, not only does it help me, because people are

committing and paying upfront for that chunk of classes,

right? It also helps them, right? And that I'm in the

business of commitment, but I'm also in the business of helping

people keep their word to themselves, helping people

commit to their own change and transformation. And I just know

that when people have, you know, committed, you know, and said,

I'm going to show up. If they commit upfront, then they will

usually do much better at showing up each week. If you

just say to people, right? Like, for example, if you've ever

belonged to a yoga studio, there are, you know, they'll say,

Okay, here's a 10 class pass. Well, a 10 class pass that has a

year to expire, people will often be incredibly sporadic,

because they're like, Oh, I've got a I've got a year to use

these that's not even one class a month. I'll just go when I

feel like it to me that is not commitment. Do you know what I

mean? The only thing, and I've said this before to a client,

oh, the only thing you've committed so far is your money.

And for some people, it's very easy to commit money and have no

follow through, which we're going to get into in a minute.

Okay, if you say, Hey, you have a monthly membership, and it's,

I'm making this up. It's 150 bucks, right? But you can just

come whenever you want to. Again, most people, a lot of the

times, will just commit the money. They won't actually do

the action. So the way that I've learned over the years is to

help people keep their word to themselves, to their own

intention, their own habit formation, that they're trying

to create a new identity. They're trying to create that

the change that they want to experience is to help them to

commit. So I am in the business of commitment. You can't work

with me like sporadically or wishy washy, right? I one of the

things I often say to people is the universe cannot get behind

wishy washy. You have to commit. And I'm going to share with you

one of my favorite quotes on commitment after this, after

we're done talking. And one of the other reasons why I wanted

to talk about this today is my own show. You know how I often

say you guys, that

I do this podcast from my ears first, meaning, a lot of times I

yeah, I'm talking to, quote, unquote you, but I'm also

talking to myself, because I need to hear right from that

smarty pants part of myself, the divine intelligence that is in

me and moves through me, and we all have it. I'm not special,

right? It's often like message to self first and foremost. So

this is for me just as much as it is for you. So I'm in the

business of commitment and helping people to show up for

themselves, because if you don't show up, you don't actually

change. And I kind of just want to talk about the way that we

sabotage this idea of commitment. And one of the

perfect examples I can give you is Planet Fitness. If you have

ever been a member to Planet Fitness, the gym, right? Their

model is a very low buy in rate. So it used to be $10 a month,

and then there's, like, usually a little annual fee. Now they

finally bumped it after years and years and years. And I used

to work for Planet Fitness way back in like 1998 or 1999 like

way back in the day, I was a personal trainer for them, and I

taught yoga, like on the side there. But what they. Model does

is they're so smart. Let me break it down for you. So what

they know is that people will often be willing to commit a

certain amount of money. They may not follow up with any

action, but Planet Fitness doesn't care. I'm not saying the

trainers who work there and stuff don't care. But as a

corporation, as a larger entity, they're banking on you

committing your $15 a month, or your 2499 black card, whatever,

a month, and then probably not showing up, which is great for

them, because it's less wear and tear, right on the equipment, on

the locker rooms, on the paper products, on the cleaning

products, right? Less bodies in the space, less maintenance,

less work that they have to do. You sometimes like less people.

They have to hire whatever, but they're banking on the human

behavior of I will commit my money, but not my action. And a

lot of times, people are way more committed to an idea of

doing something than actually doing it, like so many people

are committed to the idea of change. And they'll say, oh,

yeah, I want things to change, but when you ask them what

they're doing to participate in the change actually happening.

They often just stare at you with a blank face. People often

want the change without doing the work. Not everybody. I'm

just saying, a lot of people. You may have even experienced

this with yourself. You might say like, oh, I want to do X, Y

and Z. And you get all jazzed up, and you're like, I'm going

to do the thing, da, da, da. But when it actually comes to

putting that action into place, whether that's actually creating

a plan, laying your clothes out the night before, prepping your

meals, like setting up the appointment, like whatever the

thing is, we're more enamored and committed to the idea than

to actually taking the action. And, you know, it was

interesting, because when I was talking to my sweetie, he was

talking about how, you know, as a professional musician, people

often come up to him at his gigs or events or whatever afterwards

to talk to him, whether it's about his guitar, or to tell him

that they are either also a musician. But one of the biggest

things he gets is that people will come up to him and say to

him, I've always wanted to learn how to play guitar. And he will

always look at them and he'll say, well, he doesn't say, in my

mind, I hear I'm like this. Well, you're not dead yet,

right? If you're alive and you're nimble and you have a

guitar, you have access to an instrument, you can learn, you

know, and he'll say to them, well, you can still learn. But

what it means is you actually have to practice. So, you know,

we laugh, because a lot of times when we watch a TV show, or you

see somebody on a zoom call or whatever. A lot of times I will

see instruments in the background. And we often laugh

about how the cool guy always has, like the guitar on the wall

in the background, right? And whenever we see that, like in

real life, he says, You know, I wonder, how many people actually

play them, right? They're there, but do they actually pick them

up and play them? And he said to me, you know, he's like, it's

interesting, like, there are certain gigs that he does, or

whatever, and the same people will, like, come to that gig,

and even if it's a once a year gig, the same people will come

up to him, because, like, the first time, they'll say to him,

I really want to learn how to play guitar. And he'll say,

okay, like, this is just, you just got to pick it up, man,

learn a few chords, like, data, right? Like, he supports them,

and he's very, very encouraging. And then he'll see them the

following year at the same event, and he'll say, How's it

going, like, how's it going, like, with, with the, with the,

you know, learning the guitar. And they'll say, oh, yeah, I

haven't really started yet. And he's like, you know, this

happens year after year after year. People will have the

guitar just sitting there collecting dust, and that's a

really good example of like you're committed what you're

committed to, what all your commitment level, you were

committed enough to buy a guitar, maybe, but that was it.

And the sneaky thing about this, right? The sneaky thing about

this with the brain is you get that little dopamine hit, right?

Like, you get that little that sense of satisfaction of

checking something off the list, right? Like, there are people

who are like, I'm going to start working out, or I'm going to

start coming to yoga, and they'll buy some yoga pants,

they'll get their yoga mat, they'll get their props, but

then they never do it, because you get that little hit. You get

that little rush from just doing that part of it, right? You

committed just enough, but not enough to be effective, not

enough to actually, like, create change. So it's a really humans.

You know, we're so interesting, and I'm not trying to be mean to

everybody. The reason why I'm talking. About this today is I

want to put forth, because this is the question I just had to

ask myself, right in 2026, in this span of months, or

whatever, you know, in this made up time right? This made up time

frame, or whatever, like, what am I committed to this year? And

that is often paired with the same question I asked a couple

of podcasts ago, which is, like, how much bandwidth do you

actually have? Like, how much capacity, like, resources, time,

money, attention, energy, whatever do you actually have?

So we have to be really selective. We have to be really,

like, wicked clear, wicked clear about what actually matters to

us, and if we're wasting a lot of time doing shit that at the

end of the day, like, I literally think Memento Mori,

right? Like I'm very aware of my own mortality and the fact that

I'm going to die, so I'm always like, okay with the amount of

time that I have left, what do I want to spend my time doing and

who do I want to do it with? Where am I pouring my vital

resources into? You can't get time back. You know what I mean.

And it's like if you're wasting your time hanging out with

people you don't like, who is who are doing shit you don't

really want to do, like we have to check ourselves if we're

putting more time into and I'm just making these up, right?

Like sitting on our ass when we said I want to run a 5k this

year, or I want to get stronger, because the doctor told me that

my bone density isn't great, but yet you're not lifting weights

or, like, and I'm used, I use physical stuff because that's

just like, easier. Sometimes it could be, I want to commit to

not smoking. I want to commit to spending more time with my kids.

I want to commit to for me, right? Because I'm just going to

say this, like finishing your book, writing your book, that is

one of my commitments this year. I've talked about it in the

past. And look, the reality of it is, when you're an

entrepreneur, there's 1000 ways to get distracted. There's 1000

ways to be like, Oh, but I have to focus on keeping a roof over

my head, making money, X, Y and Z. But at the end of the day, at

the end of my life, I'm not going to regret not having more

yoga classes, right? I will regret not finishing this book.

So that's one of my commitments to myself, and that's the key

there, the commitment to yourself. And I'm hitting my

chest when I do this. This is why we really have to know

ourselves, understand ourselves, understand who we are, what we

really want, and understand how we self sabotage about the

things that we say we really want, because it's really easy

to do lip service and to say, Well, I'm committed to this

thing when you're really not. You know, in my sweetie said to

me, you know, some people just actually have he goes, some

people have no commitment. And I said to him, I disagree, and

he's like, What do you mean? And I said, I think everybody has

commitment, but I just think some people are committed to not

committing. I'll say that again. I think some people are

committed to not committing, right? And I just think like to

not commit is really easy. It's another way that we kind of get

out of

how to what's the word I'm looking for, let me say it this

way. It's another way that we actually try to protect

ourselves. And maybe you've done this yourself. I know I did it

when I was younger, for sure, which is, you're too afraid to

fail, so you do it half ass, and then if you do fail, nobody can

make fun of you or make you feel bad or stupid or whatever,

because you can just shrug it off and say to yourself, yeah,

but I didn't really try that hard anyways, because we're

afraid of our own capacity to actually do a thing. And, you

know, there's certain things you just have to go full boring.

Like, I would just not be interested in being married to

somebody who was, like, half committed. You know what I mean,

like, I don't want a business partner who's like, yeah, kind

of gives a shit. You know what I mean, it's like, I really geek

out on people who are really consistent and committed. And

yes, that does something, of course, selfishly to my nervous

system. When people are really wishy washy, right? That's not

that soothing to be around. When you're like, I don't know, do

they even really give a shit about me or this person or this

project or this thing, like, I can't rely on them because

they're so wishy washy, right? It's really nice to be in the

presence of people who are committed to their word and to

their work and to doing their best to commit. If they say,

like, hey, you know that's why, like, I don't make promises in

my business. You know, people will like, well, if I spend this

money and I work with you, are you guaranteeing? Are you

promising that I'm going to have this change? And I said, No, I

can't promise that. You know why? Because I can't promise

your level of commitment. I can only promise you I'm like,

here's what I can promise you, I'm going to fucking show up.

I'm going to show up 110% I'm going to be here, and I'm going

to support you and guide as much as I can, and cheerlead and try

to extract from you and show you your own brilliance and your own

genius. And I'm also probably going to point out a little bit

of your own bullshit, right in a kind way, in a loving but firm

way. We can laugh about it. I can't, though, guarantee your

level of commitment again, because sometimes people will

just commit their money, but they won't actually, oh, they'll

commit with their word, whatever, but they don't

actually commit to doing the action, to taking the action.

And if you find that you're a person who is more committed to

the idea of a thing like, you get really excited, you know, in

this, this shows up, perhaps in your life. And we've all done

this, right? I'm not pointing fingers at anybody, but if

you're a person who tends to stat a lot of things but doesn't

finish them right, you'll see like, oh, I wasn't committed to

seeing this through. You might just be committed to getting

that first dopamine rush, or maybe you just got bored of it.

And I don't think we should see every single thing in our life

through. There are times when you have to realize halfway. Oh,

the most committed thing, the thing I can be most committed

here to here, is the integrity of realizing I made a mistake

and I shouldn't. I shouldn't follow through on this, right?

Like, we got to be willing to say, like, Ooh, yeah, I

committing. Like, quitting. This would be the best commitment I

could make right now. So, yeah, so this is really just an

invitation to look at the different buckets in your life,

and to look at maybe your financial life. Like, maybe you

said I'm committed to saving money this year, but you haven't

really been doing that. You didn't set up an automatic

deposit, or you didn't set up a jar at home where you put some

extra cash in or whatever the thing is. So look at the areas

of like finance. Look at the areas of relationships, right?

Look at the areas of your work, your mental health, your well

being, your physical being. So just look at those four buckets

of like, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, and

say, like, how committed am I? And then just getting really

clear about what you have, the time, the energy, the resources,

whatever, to commit to it, because there's only so much

bandwidth. There's so many hours in a day, and we don't want to

be wasting our time, man, like we're at an age where it's like,

again, I come back to this thing where I say, the universe can't

get behind wishy washy. So getting some clarity. Like, get

out some colored pens or something. I'm holding these up.

Get yourself a notebook. You know what I mean? Holding that

up and, like, write some shit down. Just get really clear.

It's only February, right? So maybe you started January with

this idea of, like, this is what I'm going to commit to, this is

what I'm going to do. And here you are in February, and you're

realizing, like, Oh, that's not quite it. Great. Tweak it. You

get to change your mind. That's awesome. There's a difference

between changing your mind, right, and being what I mean,

fickle, right? Just being like, I don't feel like it. You know

what I mean? There are plenty of days where I'm like, I don't

feel like lifting these weights right now. And I love to lift, I

love the strength train. But there are just days I am not in

the mood. I don't feel like it. You know what I say to myself,

it doesn't matter that you don't feel like it. And it's one of

the things that I often to say to people like about the gym or

yoga or hiking or moving your body, going for a run, whatever

the thing is, right? I often say, I never regret coming to

yoga afterwards. I never regret going to the gym afterwards. I

never regret I mean, unless I hurt myself or something, you

know, that would be another thing, but it is so rare. I have

almost never regretted moving my body. You know that some of the

things, though, because we're talking about these actions,

that I think need to be on the list though, is, what is your

commitment to justice? What is your commitment to inclusion?

What is your commitment to kindness. What is your

commitment to compassion? What is your commitment to being a

good neighbor? What is your commitment to voting? What is

your commitment to these things that really, really matter, and

they matter? Sorry, I'm getting blinded by the sun coming in all

over you. What really matters in this world beyond just us?

Because it's so easy to get focused on the Me, me, me, me.

But our levels of commitment also affect our loved ones, our

family, our neighbors, our community, our city, our

country, you know what I mean? So also looking at that like, am

I committed? You know, as a kid who is. Raised like I laugh and

I think about this, you know, so many of us who are Gen X people

like we were raised partially by the television our friends did

it like we all raised each other because we were all feral. We

all kind of raised each other. But we also were raised by like,

you know, Bob Ross and Steve Irwin and Fred Rogers, and they

had commitment. You know, they had commitment to us, and they

taught us so many things, but those things don't mean anything

if we don't apply them and put them into action. Now, look,

those might not be your guys. You might not resonate with

them. Maybe for you it was like the electric company or Sesame

Street or some other like books you read whatever like for me

too, right? There are certain characters in certain books,

like, I love a book any kind, whether it's Stephen King the

doc Tower series to the Harry Bosch series by Michael Conley.

I love people with a code. I'm really into that, right? I love

stories of characters that have a code because that's their

level of commitment. They are committed to an idea like Harry

Bosch's commitment was, everybody matters or nobody

matters. So he didn't care the color of your skin, if you were

a junkie, if you were a rich white person, if you were like a

prostitute. If you were work like a little kid, an old

person, whatever. He didn't care the victim was the victim, and

he was going to work just as hard on behalf of solving the

crime, the murder, whatever, regardless of their history,

their background, their whatever. And he was committed

to that commitment is a very sexy thing. You know what I'm

saying, like when people put a stake in the ground and they

say, I'm committed to working this out, I'm committed to

solving this problem with you. I'm committed to not walking

away. I'm committed to putting in the time, the hours. I'm

committed to beyond the idea. I'm committed to the living,

breathing entity of this commitment that is a powerful,

powerful thing. And I want to kind of leave you with one of my

favorite quotes, and it's supposedly from a climber, a

mountaineer, William Hutchinson Murray on the Scottish Himalayan

expedition. And I'll read the full quote to you until one is

committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always

in effectiveness, concerning all acts of initiative and creation,

there is one elementary truth, The ignorance of which kills

countless ideas and splendid plans that the moment one

definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves two.

Let me say that part again, because it's so powerful, okay,

the ignorance of this will kill countless ideas and splendid

plans, meaning not knowing this truth that I'm about to say will

kill all your ideas. So it's important. So this is the part

to lean in. The moment one definitely commits oneself, then

Providence moves to all sorts of things occur to help one that

would never otherwise have occurred, a whole stream of

events, issues from that decision, raising in one's favor

all manner of unforeseen incidents, meanings and material

assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his

way. I have learned a deep respect for one of goat's

couplets. Whatever you can do or dream, you can begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. And

that is speaking to that action portion of the commitment until

one's committed. He's saying, there's this hesitancy, there's

this ability for us to, like, you know, shuffle our feet and

get wishy washy and draw back, and that always leads to

ineffectiveness. Nothing gets done that way. He's saying,

like, concerning whenever you have an idea, concerning when

you have an active initiative or an opportunity to do something

or create something. This one elementary truth, if you don't

know this, it will kill your ideas, countless ideas. It will

kill all your splendid plans. The moment you commit yourself,

Providence will move too and all these resources, the people, the

places, the money, the meetings, like everything that would never

have otherwise occurred until you committed all of a sudden, a

whole stream of events will show up things that you couldn't even

dream of. And I remember when listening to Oprah talk that

time when I met her and she said, You know, God dreams, a

dream. Dream for me bigger than the one I can dream for myself.

I'm paraphrasing, right? The divine, the universe that,

whatever you want to call it, you know, the divine

intelligence, your higher power, your highest self, right? There

is something that dreams a dream for ourselves big enough, bigger

than ever we could imagine. But we have to commit, and then once

we commit, Providence will move too. How exciting is that? So

remember, the universe can't get behind wishy washy. We have to

commit. So again, this is just an invitation, enthusiastic

invitation to encourage you to get serious about your life. We

can get serious in a fun way, like sit down, like I said, get

your colored pens, get out your highlighters, get your markers,

start to dream into existence, right? And then follow it up

with action. I'm in the business of commitment, right? If you're

somebody who is also, like, into being committed, and you're

like, Hey, I'm committed to, like, wanting to change some

things, to transform some things I'm committed to getting to

really know and understand and love and trust myself more.

That's the business I'm in. So you can always reach me. Just go

to my website, Karen kenney.com, k, e n, n, e y.com, and there's

a tab. I mean, there's lots of ways to work with me, yoga,

Thai, yoga, body work, coaching, etc, writing workshops, which I

hope to be doing some more of, or salons and stuff this year.

Okay, but remember, I'm in the commitment business. This is a

great opportunity to ask you. Ask yourself, right? What am I

committed to this year? And I always love to hear from you. So

if you want to throw me a note and let me know what you're

committed to this year, I'd love to hear about it. Okay, wrapping

it up. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you're new here,

welcome. I'm so happy you're here. If you're a loyal

listener, you know how much I love and appreciate you. So

thank you for being here and tuning in wherever you go,

right? May you leave yourself in the animals and the people in

the planet better than how you found it wherever you go. May

you and your energy and your presence and your love and your

commitment be a blessing. Bye, you.