Kaizan Blog

Desire is the fuel of all goal achievement. If an Olympic athlete didn’t really, really want to win the gold medal, then there is no way they would put up with all the years of training necessary to compete at that level. Contrast that commitment with the usual vague wishes that the average person comes up with and you can see why a lot of people struggle to achieve their goals.

Napoleon Hill, in the classic book “Think and Grow Rich” called it a burning desire and it’s when you want something so bad, that nothing will stand in your way.

You may dream about success but dreams will only get you so far. If you were to develop a desire so strong that you would do everything in your power to accomplish it then your chances of success are infinitely greater. That’s the power of desire.

But what do you do if you don’t feel that strong desire for your goal? It’s very common. The problem is that some people start thinking “If I don’t feel a strong desire for it, maybe my goal isnt the right one?”  Or others see people who are passionate about their goals and conclude that ”maybe I’m just not passionate about anything?”

But the thing you may not realise about desire is that isn’t all or nothing. And it also isn’t something that strikes out of the blue. Most desires develop over time. They need to be nurtured. The conventional wisdom is “if you desire something, you will think about it a lot”. But did you know that the converse is also true: “if you think about something a lot, you will desire it“. This astounds some people.

Imagine this scenario (better yet, try it for yourself to be absolutely sure): You pick out a random travel destination, let’s say Rome. It’s a place you may have thought about as a nice place to visit for a holiday, but had no real commitment to visit. For a few days, you force yourself to think about it all the time. You visit websites about Rome, read novels set in Rome and talk to your friends about nothing else. From the moment you wake up, to the moment you go to bed you make sure that it’s all you think about.

After a few days, you would almost certainly have an increased desire to visit Rome. The sustained focus has made you want something you were almost indifferent to a few days earlier.

And it’s the same with your goals. It may take longer, but if you talk and think about your goals all the time, your desire will increase.

Action Step

Try it! Start obsessing over your goal. Force yourself to make it your focus for every waking moment. Your desire will increase in proportion to how much you do this.