Q: What does commitment look like?

In brief, a decision to take certain actions, promptly and well.

In more detail:

- To organise one's time to make sure the work gets done

- To actually follow through

- To perform the work to the best of one's ability

- To deliver work straight away

- To be available for discussion with the sponsor

- To communicate openly and honestly

- To cooperate maximally

When things go wrong, the sponsee goes slow, delivering results only sporadically, and those results become sparse and careless. If the sponsor is doing their job, this will be challenged. If the work is not being done swiftly, amply, and well, there is always a problem either with ability or willingness. Sometimes the exercise is being belaboured (i.e. turned into something more complex or time-consuming than it needs to be), or the individual is genuinely stuck. But even in the latter case, an honest, open, and willing sponsee will signal these difficulties to the sponsor promptly (sometimes within minutes of the problem arising). If they do not, the real problem is not the difficulty but the unwillingness to address the difficulty. In this case, the 'difficulty' may actually be the alibi.

This is the point at which the road forks. Sometimes, the sponsee admits openly that there is a willingness problem, and the problem can always then be addressed. These situations work out well.

On the other prong of the fork, the sponsee does everything to avoid addressing the challenge head-on: the issues with the output are denied; the lack of willingness is denied; a thousand reasons are brought up to explain the poor or lacking delivery, including even the sponsor; instructions are misinterpreted to mean 'slow down', 'do less', or 'do nothing'. DENIAL is an acronym for 'Don't Even Notice I Am Lying'. The denial itself is denied.

In these latter cases, it is up to the individual to sort themselves out with their Higher Power: Once the prospect has become a closed system, only the grace of God can release them. Exposure to high-powered meetings and people can help loosen the ego's grip.