Human beings are emotional creatures. Many of us, if not all of us, are led by changing emotional tides. Emotions impact the way we interact with our surroundings. While it is certainly useful to get the most extreme emotions under control, there is a particular one that has not been given the right kind of attention when it comes to building and running a business: Desire.
We have talked a lot about discovering your purpose and putting it into action. And while it is essential to get crystal-clear on the purpose you have inside, and acknowledge that there is no one better to carry it out, it is not enough just to know it. Just knowing what your potential is is nice, but that knowledge won’t take care of poverty or cure the sick. Having an amazing idea without execution makes it pointless.
If Steve Jobs hadn’t been completely drunk with the purpose of using his skills and his passion to solve the problem of making useful tools accessible, that endeavor would have died quietly. Imagine your purpose is a seed. It needs the right kind of fertilizer in order for it to grow into a tree.
That fertilizer, this upward movement, is the last remaining ingredient in building a mission that has a real impact and ultimately changes people’s lives. It is called desire.
Desire is what moves a clear understanding of our potential impact into action. Without desire, nothing grows. If there is no water or nutrients in the soil, you can plant the most beautiful of all seeds, but it will never grow. It will keep all of its incredible potential locked away from the world, for no one to see.
Isn’t this a sad picture? It sends shivers down my spine when I think of all the wasted human potential that has gone unrealized.
But, what is desire?
The origin of the word in Latin means “to express a wish to obtain.” This couldn’t be more fitting. After all, the thing we wish to obtain once we discover our purpose, is what that purpose will bring to the world and to ourselves. But first, we must know what we wish to obtain because desire builds on clarity.
Once we have everything before us- our beliefs, our skills, our passion and the problems we are dying to solve- we have all the ingredients to feed our desire. Desire is an emotion that grows when we understand our true nature and get obsessed with bringing it to life.
This requires courage and dedication. Without this, no desire can be formed, only cravings. Yes, desire is a risky game. It forces us to take a leap of faith. It forces us to do what we are meant to do, without apology. This is both terrifying and exhilarating.
Grab a pen and paper and think about the impact you believe you are meant to make in this world. What image can you visualize that fills your heart with so much desire, that you want to start working on it today?
Example: I want to help young girls in underprivileged schools find the confidence to choose their own path by making books and articles about inspiring women easily accessible to them.
What visual comes to mind when you close your eyes? Does it fill your heart with so much desire that you immediately want to do something about it?
Don’t worry, you don’t need to know HOW or WHAT you have to do just yet! It is enough to feel the desire- the emotional surge.
If what you imagined doesn’t make you feel anything, then drop it. No need to pursue it. If you do feel an emotional stir, investigate further. Nurture the idea, watch it grow. You owe it to yourself and you owe it to all of us.
