What is commitment?

Commitment is a big word and one I’ve recently paused to think about and what it actually means to me.

Over 15 years ago with a crazy lack of know how and an abundance of stubbornness I made a commitment - to create a sustainable event industry. I even mapped out on a flip chart with coloured pens what needed to happen so in my head it looked like easy step by step actions to the end goal. The lack of know how I had meant every political twist and turn surprised me! At every barrier I kept pushing and with every fall I kept getting back up because I had made a commitment to create a sustainable event industry.

This commitment provided me with the excuse to break rules, to take action, to ignore advice, to take risks - basically the commitment was stronger than all the voices in my head that might have stopped or distracted me.

As I write this the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Action Campaign is about to launch a survey for the event industry which aligns with the My World Surveys being used to bring everyone’s voices into official debates on the sustainable development goals. All of a sudden the commitment that has powered me has a structure to exist without me. From this point there will always be a way for event professionals to share their voices and actions in a way that we be heard by the community of global leaders implementing a strategy to ensure the world works for everyone.

I’m now asking myself what is something even bigger I can be committed to? I’m wondering if everyone in the world has a commitment- something that will power them through challenges? And I’m appreciating that the word commitment means, to me, an excuse to be in action on what I care about.