Desire could be the most important strength that you have in your pursuit of financial freedom.
Have you spent any time recently identifying your assets?
A while back I attended a webinar where the topic was exactly that, identifying your assets.
The assets in the webinar related to my business…
But it got me thinking about the assets required to be successful in creating wealth.
Now I’m not talking about investment assets like property or stocks. Instead, I was thinking about the personal strengths that you need to be successful.
Your personal assets!
I spent some time this week reflecting on my research and client success stories and dug into their stories.
As much as I would like to believe that my client’s success was all about me and my training, I realised that something more important was in play.
Despite each client or case study that I reviewed having different paths to success, each with their own struggles along the way… I recalled an important lesson from one of my favourite books, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
A Roadmap for Financial Well-Being
Napoleon Hill wrote Think and Grow Rich in 1937 just as the US was recovering from the market crash of 1929; and it was inspired by the time that Hill spent interviewing successful businessmen such as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Theodore Roosevelt, and many others.
After analysing all of these successful men Hill deducted that success was a matter of mind control at the end of the day.
Napoleon Hill truly believed and laid it out so powerfully in his book, that with the right mindset and a sound plan, anyone can achieve financial success.
In thinking about how I was going to write this week’s post, I went back to Hill’s book, and there it was, right in the title of the first chapter: Desire.
Desire First: Success Second
The first step to achieving financial goals is the desire to achieve them, to begin with.
I say this all the time, but you may essentially be driving around without financial road maps and wondering why you’re lost when it comes to money.
If you don’t have a desire or a destination in mind, then how can you ever expect to get anywhere?
You will have read here before that you need to know your ‘why’ when trying to create financial freedom.
Your ‘why’ is what will give you the desire to achieve your dreams.
And you will know you have chosen the right why when the desire is strong.
If the desire to get up each morning and go after your dream is strong, if it pushes you, then you know you have the first ingredient to success.
Sticking with the Plan
It is important to remember, that none of Hill’s subjects, or the people that I referenced, achieved immediate success.
Many of them struggled on the path to change their financial future.
However, the ones who desire success the most, stick with a plan no matter what obstacles come their way and continue to apply themselves, they are the ones that achieve success.
Desire to Overcome Obstacles
The real power of desire is in the obstacles that it helps you overcome.
I have identified two obstacles to financial freedom that desire has the most significant influence in overcoming.
Procrastination
Over the years if I had to identify one trait that is the curse of all people trying to create wealth, it would be procrastination.
Procrastination is the outcome of fear.
You will put off doing anything if there is doubt or fear in your mind about your chance of success, or worse if you think you will fail.
This will manifest in procrastination… it’s a lot easier to say you will do it tomorrow than it is to face your fears and get on with it.
That means you will need to face your fears and step out of the state of procrastination…
And that is where your desire comes in.
The desire to achieve will be the ingredient that pushes you to take the next step, take action and start the process of achieving your dreams.
Unwanted Behaviours
When it comes to wealth creation there are certain unwanted behaviours that you have that you will be forced to overcome if you are to be successful.
There is no hiding from the fact that as you grew up you will have been influenced by people that are not necessarily wealthy or don’t share your wealth dreams.
This unfortunately will have created certain behaviours in you that are preventing your success…
Your attitude to money and more importantly to debt are likely to have led to unwanted behaviours.
This includes spending more than you earn, or spending before you earn on credit.
It’s a recipe for disaster when it comes to wealth creation.
So, again it is the desire that comes to the rescue.
If your desire for financial freedom is strong, then these unwanted behaviours will be the first aspects of your life that you will change.
It doesn’t require any special magic formula… it’s as simple as the desire for what you want long-term outweighing the short-term happiness you might get from spending money you don’t have or can’t afford.
If you desire financial freedom and are willing to invest the time and money for it to happen, then I truly believe, as Napoleon did, that this desire will lead to financial success.
The Power in Desire
So by now, you can see that desire is a critical element of your success.
To achieve your wealth creation goals I would go as far as to say without it you won’t achieve your goals… it’s that important.
The perseverance required to be successful in creating wealth is fuelled by your desire.
Simply put, no desire leads to no action, which as you know equals no results.
My main desire is to change the lives of 1,000,000 people by providing them with knowledge and resources to take control of their money and achieve financial freedom. To empower them with the confidence that they can do it themselves.
I know there will be setbacks along the way, but with the support of you and many other people, I am certain that I will achieve this goal.
What are Your Desires?
If you are struggling with your path to financial health, I encourage you to take the time and identify specific results that you would like to attain.
Write these desires down and then construct a plan for how you are going to get there. Don’t let the size of your goals or the potential setbacks overwhelm you to the point that you never get started.
Put your plan together and let desire and faith propel you along the journey.
I guarantee you that you will not only find your own path to success but that the universe will likely surprise you with some windfalls along the way.
How can you ever expect the universe to give you something if you don’t tell the universe what you desire to begin with?
Leave me a comment below and let me know what big goal you are trying to achieve, and let’s see if we can build a community of doers.
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