NGO workers delivering food relief in war-torn regions.
Corporate leaders launching bold new products.
Small business owners chasing growth and impact.
Government and military officials safeguarding high-value assets and dignitaries.

This list barely scratches the surface of the incredible people we’ve worked with over the years. But they all have one thing in common.

Mt. Rainier National Park. Photo Credit: No Vacation Required

External Commitment vs. Internal Growth

We often hear about commitment in the context of relationships, causes, or careers. A first responder saving people’s lives. An entrepreneur building a new company. Someone dedicating themselves to a partnership.

By that definition, almost every person we’ve worked with was deeply committed. Across the board, our clients have dedicated themselves to making a difference, achieving results, or simply making someone else’s life better. And they’ve been successful.

Despite their success, when their focus shifted from something external to something deeply internal, they each found themselves struggling with the very thing they considered themselves so good at: commitment.

Let’s see if Anya’s (not her real name) story resonates.

For years, Anya thrived in the high-stakes world of the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Her commitment was absolute, focused entirely on the mission. It was demanding work, but the sense of purpose was powerful.

When we worked with Anya, she was transitioning into the private sector, bringing her expertise to enterprise security strategy. She was a dream candidate – perfectly qualified for her new field – so the move was quick and successful. And her new role was pretty ideal. It offered new challenges and also, crucially, more bandwidth. She finally had space to focus on her own personal development – something she knew she needed.

But here’s the twist: she found herself surprisingly resistant. After years of unwavering focus on an external mission, turning that focus inward felt strange. First, her work had been so consuming that she didn’t have the time, energy, or inclination to focus on personal development. Once she had the time, somehow personal development work felt harder.

Why Internal Commitment Matters

You may have never protected world leaders in high-threat environments, but we bet you can relate to Anya’s feeling of of discomfort when it came to focusing on personal development. For years she had a clear mission and very specific goals. She may have not had the time or mental energy to focus on anything but that mission and those specific goals – her job may have been all consuming – but she had a clarity of purpose. She was comfortable with that.

Stepping into the uncertainty of personal growth feels inherently uncomfortable, even for people who are used to doing big, bold, and brave work. You may be used to running into burning buildings, but when it comes to turning inward, comfort whispers, “What are you doing? The burning building was safer.” Commitment to your personal growth, on the other hand, pushes you to stretch, learn, and evolve in strange new ways – all without socially validated outcomes, or defined targets.

Living from a place of commitment to personal development instead of comfort is what leads to real growth, resilience, and an internal sense of purpose.

And that’s where meaningful success happens. The easy path might be tempting – remember, the “easy path” might not be easy, just familiar and externally driven – but it rarely leads to lasting fulfillment. Commitment to your personal development keeps you aligned with what actually matters. It helps you find deep inner fulfillment – fulfillment that remains regardless of your role or external circumstances.

As a side benefit, committing to personal development enables you to make a bigger impact in your work, relationships, and goals. And it makes external successes all the more rewarding.

It’s Easier When You Know Yourself

We talk about the benefits of knowing your personality all the time, including how knowing your personality can help you find more fulfillment in your external pursuits. But we haven’t talked about how knowing your personality can facilitate your internal development – to make it easier to move from comfort to commitment.

Knowing your personality – how you think, work, and make decisions – makes focusing internally less uncomfortable because it enables you to approach all of your personal development work with your natural strengths.

Imagine this kind of movement:

You create systems that work for you. When you understand how you operate, you can build habits that make follow-through feel easy instead of like a constant struggle.
You stay engaged in a way that’s natural to you. Some people need structure, some need flexibility, and others thrive on a challenge. When you know what keeps you motivated, it’s easier to stay committed—even when things get tough.
You don’t let resistance stop you. Everyone hits roadblocks. The difference is knowing how to spot those patterns early so you can work through them instead of allowing them to derail your progress.
You work with your energy, not against it. The best system is the one that works for you. When you align your commitment to personal development with how you naturally focus and operate, you stop fighting yourself and start making real progress.
You build trust in yourself. Internal commitment gets easier when you see progress in a way that feels sustainable. When you understand how you work, you can establish realistic personal development goals and prove to yourself that you can follow through.

Personal development should be personal, so use what you know about your personality to find a process that works for. This increases the likelihood that you’ll stay engaged, consistent, and in it for the long run.

Don’t Externalize Internal Work

When you’re already comfortable with external measures of success – you know, the comfortable things you don’t get when you commit to personal development – you may try to seek these out for your internal work. That’s why it’s important to talk about externalizing growth.

Hacks, dogmas, and one-size-fits-all approaches might deliver a sense of momentum - just choosing a system can feel like a major win – but they often pull you away from the the real work. Be wary of anything offering quick fixes or excessive external validation. This is your work, how you approach it should be, as we said above, personal and self-validating.

Turn Your Focus Inward

Like Anya, many of us learn to be fiercely committed to external missions. There’s a lot of power in that. But what if you turned that powerful capacity inward? We’re inviting you to choose the sometimes-uncomfortable path of internal growth over the allure of what’s comfortable.

Onward & Upward,