Last February, I spent a few weeks on my back with a herniated disk and pinched nerves in my neck. (Yes, it hurt). One of the worst parts of spending time in bed was missing my daily indulgence of visiting Starbuck’s for my coffee in the morning. One morning, my amazing wife brought me home a nice, hot Starbucks mocha. I usually don’t look to my coffee cup for inspiration, but laid up and having not much else to do, I started reading “The Way I See It” on the side of the cup. I really liked the quote, but, in a Vicodin-Espresso induced haze, I lost track of the cup and forgot the quote. Well, here I am over a year later sitting in Starbuck’s sipping a mocha and what do you know, I got the same cup. Well, not the very same cup, that would be kind of gross, but I think you get what I mean. I thought, hmmm, maybe karma is telling me something. Here’s what my cup said:

“The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating – in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life.” – Anne Morriss

Well, I’d have to say I’m glad I found this cup again and I’m glad I found it now. I’ve been very non-committed to writing my blog in the past few weeks. Things have been swirling around in my professional and personal life and I just couldn’t focus. My blogging and Tweeting had been taking too much time away from my personal life. So, I stopped really putting my all into my blog. In fact, I stopped writing all together for almost a month. Then I realized I missed it. Somehow, I needed to commit to a better balance between my real life and my “online life”. So, that’s commitment number one: I’ll continue to blog and Twitter but with a much greater respect for my personal time. It’s a commitment to those that I love and a commitment to all of you who read my blog (and yes, I love all of you too, but in a different way). OK, got that out of the way and I’m feeling good. I’m breathing again!

But more than that, this cup really woke me up (and not just from the double espresso) to my growing desire to write a book “one of these days“. I’ve had this idea in my mind for a book about the power of collaboration and it’s impact on innovation in successful organizations for some time and I’ve kept putting it off for a variety of “really good” reasons. Hmmm, can you say internal critic and fear? Apparently I can’t, so I did what Anne Morriss said, and I dressed it up as rational hesitation. I had a million excuses why I couldn’t start writing it. Well, I think I’m going to go out on a limb here and free myself by finally, openly committing to writing this book that I’ve had inside me for a long time. Aaaah, I feel better already. Two big commitments and I didn’t die, I didn’t implode, I’m still here. And because I believe deeply in commitment, I feel deeply liberated by openly making these commitments. Wow, what a great feeling!

So, what’s holding you back from doing something you’re passionate about? Maybe today is your day too. Maybe you just need to make a commitment and go for it. I promise, it won’t hurt (unless you’re committing to finally getting that tattoo you’ve always dreamed of). Go ahead and make your commitment right here for everyone else to read. Tell us what you’re passionate about and what you’re going to commit to.

Something incredible happened to me a few weeks ago. Something life changing. Something that gave me a lot of clarity. Something close to miraculous. I lost my job. That’s right, I lost my full-time job. And do you know what? It was one of the best things to happen to me in a long, long time! In all the hustle and bustle and “busy-ness” of keeping my career going on just about a 24-7 basis, I lost sight of a lot of things.

Since I lost my job, I’ve had a lot of free time. And free time is a good thing. Maybe the best thing in life. It gives you time to slow down and actually see the things that surround you everyday. Things you take for granted. Yup, I’m talking about family…wife, kids, dogs…you remember them right? Well, it’s been amazing spending entire days playing with my kids. Noticing how much they smile and laugh. How big they’ve gotten. How much fun they are to be around. And it’s been amazing spending time with my wife. Realizing once again why it was her that I married. She’s the most supportive, positive, amazing person in the world. And it’s been nice getting to know that again (although I’m not sure I ever forgot that or doubted it).

Besides spending time with family it’s given me a lot of time to do what I love doing most, riding my bike through Colorado’s beautiful mountains. Cycling is a meditation time for me. It’s when my mind finds the most clarity and everything starts to fall into place for me. During all of my recent cycling, I’ve found a lot of clarity in my life. I’ve thought a lot about the direction my life and my career should go in next. And I’ve realized that where I was may not have been the healthiest place for me mentally, physically, spiritually or even career-wise. I’ve been given a great opportunity to really think through the choices I’ve made in my life and reevaluate them. I have the time now to decide what will make me and my family the happiest. And I believe that if you’re happy with your life and your choices, then that’s as good as it gets. As Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.com said: “When your work is an extension of who you really are deep down inside it’s no longer a job or a career. It’s a calling.” I think it’s time I found my calling.