Welcome back to the TAGR blog for 2008. After a slow start to the year (zero blog posts), its time to get back into it.
Desire is the cornerstone of achievement. Simply put, if you dont desire something enough, then you will not achieve it. Attempting something, when you are indifferent to it, is a recipe for bad apple pie. And yet, we see scores of examples of people doing things that they arent really into, and then failing.
One of my readers once asked me, "What do you do, if you don't desire anything at all?"
"Well Jimmy" I said "If you don't desire anything at all, you're probably dead"
Her name wasn't Jimmy, and she didnt think that was very good advice, but the question remains,
"What if I don't desire it enough?"
Answer:
If you don't desire it enough, you won't overcome all the hurdles that will present themselves. You'll stop short.
But don't forget, that desire doesn't always appear immediately. Contemplating, and working on something, mulling it over in your mind, over time, nurtures desire. It creates desire and strengthens it.
This is why reading the statement (see Autosuggestion chapter) is so important. Reading the statement over and over again cultivates the desire in you. And then... its only a matter of time.
Showing posts with label Desire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Desire. Show all posts
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
Monday, 17 December 2007
Introduction (Thoughts are Things)
How did a man dressed like a tramp with no money and no prospects, pitch up at the office of the greatest inventor in history, and secure himself a fortune?
We are all used to using excuses (alibis as Napoleon Hill calls them) to justify why we havent succeeded:
"If only I had more money..."
"If only I had more time..."
"If only I had superpowers..."
But one can truly see the absurdity of our excuses, when you see how little Edwin C Barnes had when he presented himself in front of Edison to ask for a job.
But it didnt matter, because had more than money or clothes or good references. He had his thoughts. He had a major definite purpose (to work with Edison), and he had a burning desire to make it happen.
Ok, it didnt happen straight away, but it did happen. Knowing what he wanted, and being committed to achieving it no matter what, gave Barnes the advantage over anyone else, and meant that nothing could stand in his way. Its as simple as that.
We are all used to using excuses (alibis as Napoleon Hill calls them) to justify why we havent succeeded:
"If only I had more money..."
"If only I had more time..."
"If only I had superpowers..."
But one can truly see the absurdity of our excuses, when you see how little Edwin C Barnes had when he presented himself in front of Edison to ask for a job.
But it didnt matter, because had more than money or clothes or good references. He had his thoughts. He had a major definite purpose (to work with Edison), and he had a burning desire to make it happen.
Ok, it didnt happen straight away, but it did happen. Knowing what he wanted, and being committed to achieving it no matter what, gave Barnes the advantage over anyone else, and meant that nothing could stand in his way. Its as simple as that.
Friday, 7 September 2007
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.
"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.
Saturday, 11 August 2007
Desire
It all begins with desire. Without a strong desire for a goal, you can't achieve it. That sounds self-evident, but I think a lot of people ignore this. I have done more than my fair share of wishing in my life. Wishing is vague, its half -hearted and it doesn't usually work. What this chapter talks about is desiring something completely. Committing to it unconditionally. To commit to something, you need to desire it, a lot. Without this strong desire, once the initial enthusiasm has passed, you won't have anything to keep you going.
Its the difference between someone saying "I wish I had more money" and another person saying "I am absolutely committed to saving $1 million by January 1st 2010". Who would be most likely to achieve their goal?
In this chapter, the story I really like is about Mme. Schuman-Heink, the opera singer, who, on her first ever audition was told by the director of the Vienna Court Opera she wasn't cut out for singing and to give up. The line from the book is fantastic:
"The director of the Vienna Court Opera knew much about the technique of singing. He knew little about the power of desire, when it assumes the proportion of an obsession."
Sometimes people have a goal, but because they are finding it hard to get motivated to consistently do anything about it, they question their actual desire for the goal.What do you do in those situations?
Well, two things:
1. You can decide maybe you dont really want it enough, and give up (what I used to do)
2. You can realise that desire does not always arrive full strength, and with some goals, the desire can be cultivated 0ver time. (This is my approach now.) There are stories later on in TAGR about people mulling over desires for many years, until they became an obsession. You don't have to be absolutely passionate about something straight away.
Its the difference between someone saying "I wish I had more money" and another person saying "I am absolutely committed to saving $1 million by January 1st 2010". Who would be most likely to achieve their goal?
In this chapter, the story I really like is about Mme. Schuman-Heink, the opera singer, who, on her first ever audition was told by the director of the Vienna Court Opera she wasn't cut out for singing and to give up. The line from the book is fantastic:
"The director of the Vienna Court Opera knew much about the technique of singing. He knew little about the power of desire, when it assumes the proportion of an obsession."
Sometimes people have a goal, but because they are finding it hard to get motivated to consistently do anything about it, they question their actual desire for the goal.What do you do in those situations?
Well, two things:
1. You can decide maybe you dont really want it enough, and give up (what I used to do)
2. You can realise that desire does not always arrive full strength, and with some goals, the desire can be cultivated 0ver time. (This is my approach now.) There are stories later on in TAGR about people mulling over desires for many years, until they became an obsession. You don't have to be absolutely passionate about something straight away.
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