By: Martin Grunburg
Both habit and goal achievement require the following three components:
1) Knowledge
2) Skills (often in the form of habits )
3) Desire
Which of the three can only YOU bring to the table?
That’s correct. Someone else may be able to share with you the skills you’ll need or even the knowledge required, but only YOU can bring the desire.
Not to oversimplify this, but time and again when a person falls short of a goal, the problem most often appears to lie with a lack of sincere desire. With the right level of desire, the habits and skills become forged and the knowledge is acquired. Without intense desire, little happens.
I call it “sincere” desire because here’s the thing: Someone is likely to say, “That’s B.S.! I want to be rich. I know I desire it!”
Really? The proof, as this Indian proverb goes (below), is in your deeds.
As is your desire, so is your will.
As is your will, so is your deed.
As is your deed,
so is your destiny.
—The Upanishads
What have your deeds been today, or yesterday, or last week? How many books on wealth and money have you read and applied? (Great Tony Robbins book, BTW.) How many courses have you taken on wealth (Eker’s site) and money (Phil Town) What free resources have you found (listen to this interview w/ Eker on Knowledge For Men). What do your spending and saving habits (again, repetitive deeds) look like?
Desire is a “funny” thing because, if followed by actionable intention, it is likely to create pain, or to use its synonym, pressure, as you strive and make progress toward a goal.
“Without a sense of urgency,” Jim Rohn used to say, “desire loses its value.” Remember that a sense of urgency creates PRESSURE. And, you guessed it, deadlines create pressure.
“A dream with a deadline is a goal.”
The point is that your lack of habit development or goal achievement is NOT because you’re missing willpower or discipline.
You may not readily admit it, but I suspect (whatever the goal you’re not achieving or new habit you’re not forging) it’s because you’re far too comfortable with the way things currently are. That’s right, you’re only interested in the desired outcome, but you’re certainly not committed to it.
I had no intent when I started this post to lean toward The Pressure Paradox, but you can see how unavoidable that relationship really is. In fact, in The Pressure Paradox I cite a fun parable about the Chicken and Pig as it relates to the difference between committed and interested. I’m sure some of you are already familiar with it; if not, you can read it here.
Back to DESIRE
In order to truthfully inspect the desire level, we need only look as far as our actions (or deeds), as the Indian proverb goes. Desire can always be found in two places: one’s habits and one’s results.
Is it possible that your desire level could be a 10 and yet your results could still suck?
Yep. But typically not for too long. Remember the other ingredient is knowledge — and over time, the knowledge would begin to shift, and so would the corresponding skills and habits, assuming the desire does not waiver. It’s desire that is the driver.
Countless times have I seen an entrepreneur doing almost everything wrong (poor knowledge, bad skills), but they made up for it with an intense drive — a sincere desire to attain their goal. Time and again, that component alone (assuming they continued to make adjustments/refinements versus quitting) tends to be enough!
So, to check your desire levels, you need only look as far as your habits and your current results. Perhaps those results, if they are not enough, will ignite your desire and truly set you off on a life-changing, goal-achievement journey.
Desire-up!
~mg