Wanting It

[Ref. Peter Thompson, TGI Monday, November 25, 2013]

Peter Thompson says the road to success begins and ends with one common, underpinning element: DESIRE. 

“You and I find [DESIRE] stated by anyone who’s achieved anything.  We find it missing in those who haven’t or continue to miss out on what could be theirs.  [But] … more than just ‘desire’.  It’s DEEP DESIRE!  …when we don’t have a deep desire … we get sidetracked.  We lose focus.  We wander from the path and let the inconsequential
of life capture our attention, our time, our energy.

If you have goals or dreams or aspirations, you can easily check if you’re likely to achieve them.

Just ask yourself how deeply you desire them.  If the answer resonates with success – then ‘yes’ you’ll get there. If it doesn’t – you won’t!

I’ve heard deep desire referred to as: Firm Intent.  

It means the same – different words same intent.”

But even more important than deep desire is the element of commitment … resolution – sometimes with single-minded, bull-headed, dogged determination – to put a path or a goal above all else and eliminate/sacrifice anything that stands in the way. 

* * * * * * * * * * *

The “other side of the coin” representing DESIRE is:

“How much is it worth?”

The more perceived and more permanent value something has, the more likely it is to capture and retain our attention.  That’s why BIG Dreams are so important.

Consider this:

If it’s not worth everything you’ve got, maybe it’s not worth engagement at all.

Unfortunately, we’re woefully inept at assessing intimate and ultimate value.  If anything pleases us in the moment, we figure it’s “good enough.”  We’re equally quick to say, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”  Worse, we are quite the experts at inverted-value attribution: e.g., moving things we WANT to the level of NEED, as in “I NEED some cheese cake/a drink/a ‘fix’ right now!” Or “That dress [TV/video game/ ____] is simply to die for!”  

Further complicating life in the unperturbed moment is the fact that it’s easy to defer the more difficult “deeply desired” or less attractive “necessity” to the indeterminate future … as in plain old procrastination.    

One of the primary cornerstones of failure is simply wishing for / hoping for and expecting success as a matter of entitlement rather than “deeply desiring” it.  This orientation is based largely on no-great-sweat progress-to-date, achieved with no small measure of societal investment.  Thus, we fail to realize and/or we under-appreciate the full Distance to Destiny and the Degree of Dedication required to get there. 

NOTE: Eric Hoffer called the core driving force of success “HUNGER”.  Hunger is a much more acute sensitivity than a “deep desire”.  It’s a physiologic need that is debilitating if not resolved with expediency.  Hunger is also a more or less permanent condition … it’s always lurking in the background. 

Finally, that which is “Deeply Desired” in the end comes with moment-to-moment challenges that may be patently UN-desirable.  Capacitizing ourselves to deal with the harsh, hard and harrowing is more than half the battle. 

So here’s our “charge”:

·         Dream BIG

·         Identify your DEEP DESIRE – your PASSION

               *An unquenchable HUNGER

  *Something of great WORTH – worth everything you’ve got

·         Get CAPACITIZED

·         Get TOIT and DOIT!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Quartermaster