What About Day 91? – MKMMA Week 24

The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions. ~Holmes

Commitment… It’s an amazing thing. Through commitment we find persistence and with that persistence anything becomes possible. It is possible, though, for different people to engage in a commitment in very different ways?

I find that there are two different types of commitment:

The first type is a commitment to a program. In this situation the individual commits to a program involving a time frame or an achievement or an outcome. This type of commitment is very popular because it gives a concrete measure. It is clear where we start, where we end and what we do in between.

Committing to a program is seen in everything from a 7-day detox to a 30-day challenge to a 90 day exercise cycle. Committing to a program is great! We get to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s tremendously motivating and we can measure our progress every step along the way. In fact, there’s only one problem with committing to a program…

What happens on day 91?

If your commitment was to the program… and now the program is over… well, now what? Every time the program ends you reach a fork in the road. You must then decide if you will commit to a new program, hang out in the buffer zone leaving things undecided or perhaps simply go back to old habits from before the program.

The second type of commitment is committing to a process. This type of commitment is not so cut and dried. It’s more ambiguous and doesn’t come neatly packaged like a program. It isn’t defined by a time frame and isn’t even necessarily defined by an exact outcome. Instead, it’s simply about committing to the consistent actions that will take one in the right direction. Really, it’s more of a journey.

So here you are… Twenty six weeks into the Master Key Experience. You now stand at a crossroad. We have made many decisions over the course of the six months but now is the time to decide what type of commitment you will make/have made to your future self.

Was your commitment to the program? Is success going to be measured by your completion of the course’s exercises and simply sticking with it to the end? Was it a hiatus from your previous habits? A vacation from your old blueprint?

Or has it become something more? Have you committed instead to the process of rebirth and growth? Have you committed to becoming an intimate friend (and caretaker) for your future self? Have you committed to the process of forgiveness and love and growth? Have you committed to becoming the absolute best version of yourself?

If you have, then there is no crossroads here. There is no concept of being “done” and deciding whether or not to continue. There is only the question “What’s next?” as the process extends to the next chapter.

Committing to a program is great! It gives wonderful changes as we work through it’s lessons, but eventually the program ends… And so will the results if we have not transitioned to a higher level of commitment. A commitment to the process.

A commitment to a diet is temporary where a commitment to healthy nutrition is a lifelong process. A commitment to a exercise program is temporary but a commitment to fitness is a lifelong process. A commitment to the MKMMA is temporary but a commitment to being an self-directed thinker is a lifelong process.

My wish for you is that you have committed to the process of the Master Key Mastermind Alliance. My wish for you is that you will continue to chip away remnants of cement that would prevent you from understanding your purpose. My wish for you is that you will continue to grow in your understanding of service and of what you are truly capable of. My wish for you is that what we have begun together will continue to extend forward like ripples in a pond after a rock has been thrown in.

It has been an honor to share this experience with the staff, with the guides and with every fellow student. My wish for each of us is that this moment, right now, rather than being a moment of finality, is instead a moment of truest beginning.

I’m cheering for you.

~Daniel Hanscom