the bonbon life.

Desire for Success: That’s Where it All Begins

Saturday, July 19, 2008 –

Desire creates the power. -Raymond Holliwell

Is your life currently filled with things that you desire or merely tolerate?

I have been participating in a teleclass series this month with Alexandria Brown and David Neagle about success and manifesting, and one of the first things discussed was the significance of desire in the attainment of true success.  Desire is the starting point of any major life change.  It sounds so simple, so obvious, doesn’t it?  The truth is, there are many varying degrees of desire.  If your desire is weak, usually it will not be enough of a catalyst to spark any real growth in your life.  If you have an area of your life that you are unhappy in then it is likely that you have a desire to improve or change it.  However, if the action you must take to facilitate that change causes you too much discomfort then chances are your desire is too weak to overcome your fear or avoidance of that discomfort.  Before you even make the decision to grow you must carry with you a true, all-encompassing burning desire.

Let’s take a simple example we can all relate to.  You are watching your weight and have a goal of losing 10 pounds.  You can either order the cheesecake or the fruit plate….the cheeseburger or the salad.  Which is the greater desire?  To reach your goal of losing 10 pounds or tasting the deliciousness that is food with a high fat content?  It’s short-term pleasure versus long-term health.

It is similar to the person who is unhappy in their day job and wants to start their own business.  They work a long day at the office where they are miserable.  They know that in order to realize their dream of entrepreneurship they must work on their business idea on nights and weekends.  This makes them very tired–they are getting less sleep and are spending less time doing relaxing things which help ease the stress caused by their regular job.  How great this person’s desire is will make the difference in whether they keep plugging away at their side business or give in to their belief that doing so on top of a full time job is just “too hard.”  If they do give up, you can be pretty sure that their desire was not ever going to be strong enough to get them through the rigors of having both a day job and a start-up business.  It’s a shame, really, but it is almost a sort of way for the universe to weed out those who aren’t truly ready to commit to such a leap.

Desire isn’t all about practicality, however.  I say it all begins with desire because it is the first ingredient for success before all else.  You do not necessarily have to know the how.  That is, “how will my desire get me to where I want to be?”  What is more important is understanding what your true desire is.  If the judgment of others and money did not matter to you, would you still want the same thing?  This is crucial because in order to follow through with the action steps required to obtain what you desire, you will need to be able to overcome any obstacles that come your way.

On the flip side of things, you will want to make sure that your inner fears aren’t clouding what it is you truly want.  A good test for this is to ask yourself the question: “If I knew I could not fail and success was guaranteed, would my true desire still remain the same?”  Once you get clear on what it is in your heart that you want most, then you can begin concentrating on what you need to do to take action on your desire.