MONDAY, 28 MAY 2018
11:27
Two of the books I recently read, The Science of Getting Rich (written by Wallace D. Wattles and published in 1910) and Think and Grow Rich (written by Napoleon Hill and published in 1937), emphasise the idea of a burning, even consuming, desire; something you constantly think of, to which you are totally committed; something that everyone with whom you come into contact knows about you.
Seeing that you create your own reality, to a large extent, according to your views and beliefs, and how you see yourself, this idea makes sense. If you have a burning desire, your subconscious will constantly think about ways to manifest it – even when you sleep. Because you’ll talk to others about it, they will eventually think of you when they come across someone or something that can help you, and inform you about it. Your radar will also be geared towards anything that can help you – like a conversation between two people behind you in a queue at the bank, something somebody says on TV or on the radio, or a comment that someone makes on social media or on a web page.
So it came that I’ve been wondering the last few days what my burning desire is. Would it have to do with writing? To share things with people? To try clarifying things about which I received clarity for other people who may need it? Would it have to do with money? If writing, or what I hope to achieve with my writing, why then all the focus on money? If financial independence, can I justify spending so much time on my writing?
Then I realised last night when we were parking in the basement: My burning desire is, and has been for the last 25 years, a particular lifestyle. To be able to write and publish freely what I write, and to talk about what I write are part of this lifestyle. Financial independence is an absolute necessity to realise and maintain this lifestyle until I cease to exit.
The most immediate step is then to make more money – naturally in such a way that I don’t lose aspects of my ideal lifestyle I’ve already turned into reality.
22:08
According to Napoleon Hill, Edwin C. Barnes had a burning desire to become a business partner of Thomas Edison. After five years of hard work and patience, he got his chance. His consuming desire had finally been realised. What drove him then?
Napoleon Hill also tells of his own son who was born with a speech and hearing impairment. He imbued his son with desire to speak and hear one day like people with no impairment. After a few decades of resilience, hard work, patience, and a little luck, this burning desire was also turned into reality. Surely he was driven to inform other people with similar disability of the technology that made it possible to overcome his initial impairment – but was it a burning desire?
Twenty-five years ago a certain lifestyle was a burning desire for me. It urged me to take advantage of certain opportunities, and to let others pass by. The fact that I have to a large extent established the cornerstones of this lifestyle, and that I’m currently building the walls is due to this longstanding desire. But eventually, burning desire must be replaced with something more sustainable: systems that will enable your original desire that has since been turned into reality to grow, and become stronger.
FRIDAY, 23 NOVEMBER 2018
One more thing about burning desires, and focus
To make a success of any business, you have to focus on getting the project off the ground; you have to anticipate obstacles; you have to be ready with possible solutions when problems arise; you have to think about ways to grow the business.
What we are talking about here is thinking. You cannot just go through the actions for one project one hour a day, and then go through the actions for another project, and then through the actions for another project. What you need to do is go through the actions for one endeavour every day, and in-between the times you take action, think about solutions, steps you can take to grow your business, things you can do to improve your service or product and deliver better value. And then you again take action to implement all of these thoughts.
If you only go through the minimum work every day for five or six different projects, everything will be mediocre at best.
Another thing: Most of this thinking takes place at times when you’re not actively working on your project. Thoughts – ideas, solutions – rise from your subconscious when you’re brushing your teeth, right after you wake up and you’re still staring at the ceiling, when you’re taking a shower or putting on your shoes, or when you’re waiting for the traffic light to go green and you’re just staring into space without thinking about anything specific. If you’re cooking up five or six or four or seven different projects, on which one will your subconscious mind focus when you’re going through the motions, seemingly thinking of nothing?
There are people who say you have to develop an obsession about a goal, or with the successful realisation of a project, or that you need a burning desire for it. I myself try to steer clear of obsessions, but I think the idea here is to be laser focused. Without this type of focus on a single project, you won’t provide enough fuel to the engines to get the proverbial plane off the ground. Once your plane is airborne and has reached cruising altitude, it’s a different matter.
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