What Do You Desire

In response to a reply tweet James Boardman wrote on Twitter:

A trap that many fall into is focusing on the means to the end rather than the end itself.

Many want to be entrepreneurs to be free

But… freedom isn’t about externalities at all. Money and control help, but you reach the state solely through internal means.

This is a brilliant point to raise in addition to my recent post Focus on the Work.

In Focus on the Work, I write about the importance of focusing our goals on action, not achievement—on things that are intrinsically within our control.

I discuss how it can be considered misguided to focus on “being wealthy” while missing the opportunity to focus on budgeting, saving, and investing. That it’s easy to miss the actions for the outcomes.

James’s comment made me consider two additional points.

I. What is the true root of our desire?

Many of us have some idea of what we want—we may have even written it on a Post-it note on our desk. But have we given that sticky piece of paper the reflection it deserves?

Let’s take an example.

Many people may say they want to “start a business.” But why do they want to start a business? “To get rich.”

But why do you want to “get rich?” “So I can have more freedom” And why do you want “more freedom?” “So I can travel the world.”

We could take this train of thought further until we get to the true root of the desire. But let’s assume that traveling the world is this imaginary person’s true desire.

Suddenly we realize that what we thought was our desire (starting a business) was only a hurdle we placed in front of ourselves. Now that we understand the root of our desires (to travel) we can see more clearly what needs to be done. Perhaps we have no interest in business, but we’re more than able to learn about traveling cheaply, we’re more than able to apply for remote work opportunities, we’re more than able to learn how to make the most of our time so we can start learning new languages.

Our desire may be far more achievable than we thought.

Learning the root of your desire opens you up to opportunities you wouldn’t otherwise see. You’ll realize you can avoid the hurdles you placed before yourself simply by walking off the track—you had no desire to be a hurdle jumper to begin with.

II. Do we have more control than we realize?

Next, in some cases, we may find we have more control than we expected.

Packing our things and buying a plane ticket are far more controlled operations than trying to start a business.

Or, as James mentioned in his tweet, if your true desire is freedom, you may find you can make great strides from within. While externals may improve your freedom, there are many aspects to it based upon mindset alone—something fully within your grasp.

Find the roots of your desire. Ask yourself five consecutive “whys” or as many as it takes to reach some circular reasoning.

You may find what you desire to be a short walk away—just a few steps off the track.

2021-05-08