Daily Insight | Trading what YOU want Most for what YOU want Now
“The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want now…” — Zig Ziglar
Goals, aspirations and dreams are about something we do not currently have in our possession yet, hope to at some point in the future. Depending on how old you are as you read this, you might have the experience of many years of practicing the art of goal setting or perhaps only a few. You may have had many years of dreaming about what you want or it may be you only started in your dreaming process. No matter the amount of time, if you have sought to achieve any goals at all, you have without a doubt run into obstacles in the pursuit. These obstacles will seem to pop up out of nowhere and, for the most part, may be no fault of your own.
Whether pursuing a goal, aspiring to become better or doing your best to fulfill a dream, all will require several things. The first is a map or plan on how to get there. The second will be the essential knowledge and ability to read the map and follow the plan. The third will be the necessary strength and fortitude to stay the course and the fourth, after having completed the first three will be having the patience to wait for the harvest or stated differently, what you want the most.
#1 – You need a MAP to get to your goal:
If you don’t know where you are going, then how is it you are ever going to know if you have arrived at the desired destination? We have all heard the statement, “One never plans to fail they just fail to plan.” Although, almost cliché, this over quoted, but seldom taken serious statement is still true even though most could finish the sentence if they only heard the first few words. You need a map if you are planning on going somewhere you have never been. If it is a goal; if it is something you want most then there is about a ninety nine percent chance you do not have it in your possession or have never been there. You will need a map to show you the way and help to keep you on course.
#2 – Accomplishing and getting to your goal will require the correct KNOWLEDGE:
Without sufficient knowledge you may not be able to design the right plan on how to get where you want to go, achieve what you want, or obtain what you want. Further, if a plan has already been designed you may not have the skill required to decipher or understand the plan. Achievement requires skills and these are skills, which you may not yet possess, but none the less are necessary if you are to arrive at what it is you want most.
#3 – Once you are on the road toward your goal you will need STRENGTH & FORTITUDE:
One must be tenacious in their pursuit. One must be able to overcome the many obstacles they will surely face while in pursuit of their goals. These obstacles will come out of nowhere doing their best to knock you off course. You will be amazed at the amount of barriers encountered in your journey to reach the desired destination, but if you are to reach your goal or obtain that which you desire you must stay the course.
#4 – Reaching your goal will require PATIENCE:
Without patience one will seldom if ever make it to their final destination. The word patient actually means perseverance in performing a task. Most think of it as a passive term yet, you are doing something and that something is you are actively exercising patience while believing what you have planted will come to pass.
Now here is where the rubber meets the road. What is written above sounds good, that is if humans were not involved, but because humans are involved there will be one big issue, which will make reaching those goals difficult. The issue involves learning to discipline your emotions; keeping them in check while directing your energy toward the long term goal rather than the much lesser achievement you could have today.
In the first paragraph we spoke of obstacles that come up, which perhaps for the most part, are no fault of your own. On the other hand there is and can be a fault that is all your own. This will be if you continue to trade the better goals of the future or that which you want most and settle for what you want now. If you do this the goals of the future will never become a reality and, you will also never be much of an achiever. As a matter of fact, you will find yourself heading toward the loser column in almost every case. The reason is simple: you have developed the habit of putting off what is best for what is mediocre; doing so because you can have it now. You are developing one of the lesser desirable attributes for which the “Western World” is known: accepting “Instant Gratification” in lieu of exercising the patience to wait for that which is best.
Those who have what they want most are seldom the first to have or the first to accomplish great achievements for they have learned to be more patient. They have fixed their sights on the long term goals as they are not willing to risk giving those up for the gratification of having less today.
Conversely, there are those who give in thinking if they don’t get what they can grab now they may not get anything at all. They rationalize not getting anything at all will be construed as failure while the truth is failure is only a reality if you have given up. Therefore, unless you quit there is yet, no failure. Those who exercise discipline and patience are by far happier than those who settle for second best. Choosing to grab the easy rings as you travel on the carousel of life will leave you empty and unhappy, but learning to discipline yourself, putting off what you want today, focusing on the greater prize found in tomorrow, will provide you with a real sense of achievement.
Best of LUCK as you
Labor Under Correct Knowledge…
Respectfully,
Rick Cox