A lot of articles and blogs will be published today with titles like ‘How To Achieve Your Goals in 2010’ and ‘How To Foolproof Your New Year’s Resolutions.’ I believe each of these will probably have something useful to offer. But there’s another element of the goalsetting that doesn’t get talked about much, and it’s shame, because you can set your goals, you can even create a detailed gameplan for achieving each of goals, but if you’re missing this one thing, you have just sabotaged your success.

What is this one thing? Let me introduce it by first sharing a golden moment in cinematic history known as Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. In this 1985 cult classic, the inimitable Paul Reubens plays Pee Wee Herman, a frenetic man-child on a cross-country search for his stolen bike. In the course of his adventures, Pee Wee meets Simone, a waitress with big dreams of visiting Paris…

PEE WEE: Simone, this is your dream. You have to follow it.

SIMONE: I know you’re right, but…

PEE WEE: But what? Everyone I know has a big “but.” Come on, Simone. Let’s talk about your big “but.”

Before distilling your dreams into goals, before forming a gameplan for achieving those goals, you need to determine how much that goal really means to you. In short, are you truly committed?

You’ve probably heard movie stars talk about ‘committing to a role.’ As a director, that’s what I ask of my actors. But what does that mean? It means the actor abandons himself to the part. He holds nothing back. He puts it all out there, swings for the fence. If you saw Dark Knight and witnessed Heath Ledger’s astonishing performance, then you’ve seen the magic that happens when an actor truly commits.

Let me put it another way… I can do a backflip. Or rather, I could do a backflip. I possess the physical ability to do this. What I lack is the mental commitment to jump in the air, throw my upper body backward, then tuck my knees to my chest as I rotate and land. Stop and think about that for a second: there are an infinite number of backflips inside me. It would only take commitment to make them all a reality.

So, what extraordinary things are inside you?

How do you plan to make these extraordinary things a reality?

As you think about your goals for 2010 in the coming days, be sure to first ask yourself– honestly– if you are fully committed. If not, you may still have a big ‘but’. BUT, that’s okay. We can lose our big ‘buts’. Three of my friends did. These are three ordinary guys who accomplished extraordinary things in 2009, just by losing their big ‘buts.’ I’ll introduce them, and their stories, to you tomorrow.

See you then.

- Matthew Porter

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