Patrick Mosher uses physics to explain commitment: words create potential energy, but only action converts it to force. He built a multimillion-dollar sales practice over 16 years starting with a free diagnostic after his firm cut resources, showing how consistent, directed effort overcomes inertia and turns setbacks into thriving businesses.
Chapters
I saw an intriguing advertisement today with the phrase, "Commitments aren't made with words. They're made with actions." That phrase got me thinking about how commitments work. At first, you make a commitment in your head. To go to the gym more often, to grade papers this week, to clean the garage this weekend, or maybe to volunteer more next year. So what commitments have you made to yourself? Well, the ad differentiated between commitments made by words versus actions. In a former life, I was an engineer, so I started thinking how physics might shed light on the concept of commitment. Well, let's begin our science metaphor, and don't be scared, I'll keep it easy. Commitments build the potential energy needed to overcome inertia. Inertia is an object's tendency to stay put. Have you ever felt inertia to do the things you should do, or ever experienced your team's inertia to try a new process, new tools, or technology? Or how about your customer's inertia to commit to buying your product or service? Commitments made with words increase potential energy, and you need sufficient potential energy to overcome the inertia and move an object. You deliver reminders, motivators, and incentives, and these are ways that you use to build potential energy. And as the ad says, though, these commitments are words only. You build up potential energy, and then it's time. Time to take the first step. When you take that first step, your commitment now converts potential energy into force. And with force, you move things. Positive action makes you a positive force in the world. People see you take that first step, and they start believing the commitment you made with words. Oh yeah, action is force. Repeated action creates constant force that moves objects, it moves people, and this is where commitment truly kicks in because your repeated actions become an undeniable constant force. And people love predictability, especially if the action is aligned with passion. And with a cause in which they can believe. Constant force sustained on an object, people, or an environment over the long term delivers significant impact. And with a constant force sustained over, say, 2, 5, or 10 years, you can achieve outrageous goals. And there's a tiny critical piece that makes all this happen. And in physics, it's called a vector. Vector is direction. You see, to achieve significant impact, you must focus your actions in one direction over the long term. One direction. Keep focused on that rally point. Oh yeah, this, this, is how you build commitment. Wake up every day and remind yourself why you do what you do. Stay focused and you will achieve your goals. You will make your significant impact. You'll reach beyond your wildest dreams, and I bet you have some pretty wild dreams. So here's a story of a career commitment I made, building a multimillion-dollar practice from scratch. I was 10 years into my career as a change management professional at one of the Big Four consulting companies. I had a reputation as the go-to guy for turning around difficult projects. And then the company decided to de-emphasize change management. The resource cuts went deep. My job, my career was in jeopardy. and as the rug got pulled out from underneath me, I had to do a career backflip and land on my feet. I had to redefine my identity and my career and start over. Ever been there? Well, I started our Sales Talent Solutions practice from scratch. My basic mission was simply to help sellers sell, give them the, the schools, the tools, and the rules they need to succeed. And I quickly launched a 4-week seller diagnostic, and the concept was simple. Ride along with high-performance sellers, ask how they do their work, observe them in action with their customers, and then build the capabilities so all the sellers in the organization can perform better. It may sound odd, especially with how competitive sales forces can be, but the high-performing sellers were eager to share their secret sauce with the other sellers. They knew it would just make themselves better. Well, we gave that 4-week seller diagnostic away for free to our first client. I worked hard to persuade my company to give me the investment to back my idea. A little budget was all the potential energy I needed to make it go. My job was to grow the investment into a bona fide practice. 16 years later, with constant force focused on one goal, helping sellers sell, we were selling patented high-performance sales force analytics to our clients, personality tests, competency assessments, time and activity analyses. We were selling multimillion-dollar projects helping their sellers sell. And our clients, well, they were generating millions in new revenue. And it all began when the rug got pulled out and there I was standing flat-footed with no momentum and a commitment, a commitment to revolutionize how sellers sell. Commitments lead to potential energy and they lead to a constant force, and that makes your significant impact. And it begins with commitment. Align your actions consistently. Keep going, one step at a time, project by project, year by year. You'll see your dreams slowly materialize. All it takes is commitment. First in word, then in consistent and sustained action.
