I want many things. I want to do some things. Or have some things. Some large. Some small. And some that I’m not willing to work for. I call these baseless desires. These desires lack concrete action, which is the foundation of any solidly built desire.
This is a crazy mix of greed and folly. If I’m not willing to work for something, I’m telling myself one of the following: it’s less important than everything else I’m working on; or I’ve researched it, and it’s infeasible. So this means I’m keeping unimportant, or unrealistic goals.
Why is that a problem?
Ok, I have some crazy dreams, so what? Desires are emotional energy. Wanting is not passive. It’s an action. To want something, you need to run it through my mind regularly. It’s a distraction.
I’m trying to align my actions with my beliefs. If my actions say something is not important, but my beliefs say it is. Well that’s cognitive dissonance. And that is incredibly draining. The next time you do one thing, but keep telling yourself that you should do something else, watch your energy levels. Or your focus.
Beware impossible dreams.
If someone has done what you want, it’s not impossible by definition. Don’t let go, until you speak with someone who has done this already.
It’s easy to confuse the intimidating with the impossible. Layout what steps you can take to make any kind of progress. Sit and look at the list. Does your chest tighten like you’ve been plunged into a pool of icy water? Are you sweating? If so, you are afraid.
And that is the first problem you must solve. Tackle these tasks one at a time. Don’t quit until you can look at the list calmly. Until you can look at the list and know that you are stronger than when you started.
But only work on goals that are worth working on.
Make no mistake. Goals take work. If you could flip a switch to get this, you would have done that already. Expect progress to be slow. And hard. And frustrating.
Because it will be. Not always, but pretty close.
What about you?
Which of your goals are you willing to work for? What have you done for them? Which are you unwilling to work for? Why are you keeping them?