Desire

Desire drives all achievement. People can spend their lives vaguely hoping for things, but this is not desire.

"I'd like to be rich some day" is not desire. It is fantasy.

But as I said in the previous post on Desire, it does not have to strike like a bolt out of the blue. It also does not have to be something you were born liking or enjoying. Some desires develop over time. They need to be nurtured. The story of Young Gunsaulus from the chapter on Imagination is a prime example. His thought of starting a new college, began as an idea. It took 2 years of mulling over it, for it to become an obsession.

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.

Try this over the next few days. Think of something you sort of like, but are not completely obsessed with. It maybe a new car, or a house or a gadget (like the i-phone). Now, spend the next few days, trying to think about it as much as possible. Look up every website you can find about it. Read every magazine, talk with all your friends about it. You will undoubtedly find, that after a few days, you will really want it. And it works the same way with your goals.