06/06/2012
Success Takes Desire
There is a huge difference in having an interest in achieving a goal and having a burning desire to achieve a goal. How intense does the desire have to be? It has to be enough to pull you through any obstacles or challenges that can possibly come up.
I'm sure you've heard the analogy of how you must want your goal as badly as you want to breathe. If someone held your head under water, you'll do whatever it takes to be able to breathe. Procrastination is no longer an issue. Motivation is no longer a problem. The desire has become so intense that you will give it all you've got to take that breath of air.
Obviously, you don't need a do or die level of desire to achieve most goals but if you've failed to achieve goals due to laziness and lack of action, then your desire just wasn't strong enough. Now even if you have an intense, burning desire, you may still have moments where your level of desire is weakened.
During these moments, there are many things you can do and here are 2 that could help.
The first is to choose a goal that you can actually be excited about and keep focusing on how life will like when you finally achieve that goal. Choose a goal that is big enough where if you succeeded in obtaining it, your life will never be the same again. The more you want that goal, the less time you will spend trying to motivate yourself to take action.
The second approach is to remind yourself how life would be if you failed to achieve that goal. Think about the pain it would cause you. Think about having to go through another moment of feeling like a complete failure. Basically, think about the consequences of not giving the goal everything you've got.
People are motivated in different ways so choose the one that will work best for you. You can also use both approaches as well. When things are going as planned, you can keep that momentum going by visualizing how it will feel at the moment of success. When things aren't going so great and you feel like giving up, visualize the disappointment you'll have if you just quit now.
The opposite works as well. For some people, when things go the way they want, they tend to slow down and relax a bit too much so if you do this, you can use the second approach to keep your momentum up. If you're the type that when things go bad, thinking about failure just makes things worse, use the first approach to pick yourself back up.
The final thing I want to say about this reminder of success is that your level of desire will most likely fluctuate as you get feedback/results from the actions you take towards obtaining your goal. Keeping that desire strong isn't always an easy thing to do.
There may be times where you will question why you're putting yourself through all of this. You may wonder if your goal is really worth it. Having a burning desire for a goal doesn't mean you're pumped up and excited every time you think about your goal. When you truly have a burning desire for a goal, all it means is that even when it would be so much easier to quit, when taking another step in the direction of your goal is tough, when you just don't feel like taking action, you keep moving forward anyway because the thought of failing to achieve that goal would be unbearable.
This is why it's critical that you choose a goal that you have enough desire for where even when things aren't going so well, you still want to keep pressing on.
When your desire for a goal is weak to begin with, your chances of riding through the tough times will be slim. Think back at the goals that you failed to achieve, how badly did you really want those goals? An easy way to judge your level of desire is by looking at the actions you took or lack of actions.
If someone held your head under water, I'm sure you wouldn't procrastinate on trying to breathe. You wouldn't hesitate to spring into action. You wouldn't just half ass it. You'd go full force. You wouldn't second guess your ability to grasp that breath of air, your desire is too strong; and you certainly wouldn't give up trying until you've literally given it everything you've got.
Attack your goal with just half of this level of desire and you'll see just how unstoppable you can really be.
