When Did You Last Feed Your Desire?

Clarity of desire is essential when it comes to getting an action plan down on paper. I think most people that want to achieve a goal realise that someone has to do something and, in fact, this is foundational to achieving anything. So intensity of desire and taking significant action are the two foundations of success. Both of these are within your power to control and harness if you want to!

An education, some know-how and experience can help, but in themselves they are not enough. With an absolute uncompromising desire and the courage to take action, you are unstoppable, regardless of where you start from. Knowing how to feed your desire is exactly how you can become all you can possibly be and will help you achieve fulfilment in your life. It was previously thought that focus followed desire, however recent research has shown that it can also precede desire. What this means is that, if we narrow or intensify our focus, we increase our desire to achieve our objectives.

If you look around, you will see this concept incorporated into everyday life, in rituals  including visualisation, repeat imaging and prayer. This can work as  either a positive or as a negative focus, both incredibly powerful. For example, a negative focus can take the form of fear or a sense of a lack of self-worth.

Imagine in your business you continually fear not having enough customers. You worry about this every day and play over and over in your mind your fear that your business will not have enough customers. Tragically, that is exactly what will happen if you don’t change your focus and narrative. However, when you know how to feed your desire and you move your focus onto the business being full of customers, your desire to find and attract more customers naturally increases. Where your energy goes, your focus flows.

I have always aspired to know what I was trying to achieve and as I learnt more, I created goals in each part of my life. Many times I have achieved a goal much faster than I had thought possible, however in the years that followed, I didn’t identify a replacement goal. These were troubling periods of my life as it meant I didn’t know what I wanted, what I was aspiring to next or even whether there was something else that could be that important again.

I have long ago solved this dilemma and know that anyone reading this article can too. The answer is simple but requires consistent effort, discipline and patience. Previously, I have always thought when I had a complex or significant problem that I needed a complex or significant solution. That is simply not true; new opportunities await you when you apply the following simple approach:

• Draw a large circle on a piece of paper (flipchart size sheet). Imagine this circle represents your business or your career.
• Every day, dedicate 5 to 10 minutes contemplating the circle, writing on “Post it” notes key words that represent your thoughts and beliefs in respect of your business or career. In the centre, post words around what you want your business/career to look like, feel like, your beliefs and goals, how and who you will serve. On the outside of the circle, post your thoughts around what you don’t want your business to be, look or feel, your negative beliefs and thoughts. Go with your gut instinct, rather than overthinking it.
• Each day, go back to that chart, reading the notes you have posted, adding to them, removing duplicates or words that no longer resonate with you, moving words between the circle boundaries.
• This will help you progressively create a sense of  order in respect of how you see your business or career. Adding pictures can also help you visualise something that is relevant to your business.
• At the end of 7 days, spend half an hour reviewing your work, starting a log of what you think at each 7 day review.

This process will help you crystalise what you desire and what you don’t want  in your business or career. Repeat this 7 day process as many times as you need to. It will also help you realise what you may be doing to sabotage your success through negative beliefs or thought patterns, allowing you to challenge their validity and truth and to affirm a new thought, implementing a new strategy so you can move forward with your desired outcomes. Capture your desires in a written statement for business owners – this should be part of your business plan.

This approach to feeding your desire can be applied to every area of your life with guaranteed results if you consistently apply the approach detailed.

I have written a lot, in previous columns, around “Taking Action”. In my next two M2 coaching articles, I will look at how to stop the self-sabotage and to focus on your actions.