I have spent the last few weeks listening to Napoleon Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich. This is an older book, written decades ago, but interestingly enough it has many points that are so relevant today that you would think it was just published. The chapter on desire is always relevant, but it can be a serious challenge getting someone fired up enough to have the appropriate desire to actually generate momentum so they can meet their long term goals
Do you have a passion, a passion that gives you the drive to get up early and stay up late to get things done? Do you have a burning desire to succeed? How do you push yourself to overcome the challenges that stand in the way of achieving your goalsl?
The burning desire to win
Are you willing to burn the boats? Napoleon Hill referenced an army that had landed on an island seeking to conquer the ruling authority of the island. He committed to the task by burning the boat and stating to his army, the only way they would leave the island alive would be to defeat the enemy. He left no option for retreat. The desire to survive would propel the army to win.
Today, this may be the equivalent of quitting a W2 job before having your business or financial safety net in place. I have friends that have taken this approach, but I would not recommend it for most. If you have obligations to family, make better plans. If you have financial stability, this may be an appropriate route to dig in and get traction to move forward more quickly. In either approach, your desire to be successful, seeking out proven processes, will allow you to achieve your goals. Approach your goals with such a passion that you can find a time to burn the boats since you are so passionate and confident in your ability to win that there is no fear about perishing.
Think about where you need to stand in order to eliminate the resources used to retreat.
Figure out what your goal is
Before you begin your journey, you need to know where you are headed. Do you know what your end point is, how do you know that you have “arrived”? Write it down. Is there a measurable way to know when you have reached your goal? Financially, do you have a specific amount of $ you seek? Is this what you really want?
What are you going to give to meet your goal
Let’s be realistic. We know that it takes dedication and the hard work toward strategic goals to earn the outcome most of us are seeking. Typically, our goal is a financial one as it can be exchanged for all the other needs and wants we have in life. Think clearly about what you are willing to do or what efforts you are willing to trade to obtain the goal you have set. Examples could include; working evenings to support your new business, managing renovations for new investment properties or working a side gig to generate the capital to fund your passive income investments. What types of efforts, physical and mental, are you willing to expend in order to reach your goal. You will need to match this list up with your goal and determine how much time it may take to realistically achieve the goal. Often times there may be a staged approach to achieve this. For some, there may be a few years of schooling needed to provide leverage in the efforts you are capable of performing. Education applied in the right way should allow you to receive a higher benefit ($) for each hour of effort you expend. Where do you need to be in order to achieve your goal? Will it be a one step process or will it take a couple decades of progressive learning to achieve your goal?
Set a date to achieve it
When do you want to achieve your goal? This is a big question to answer. There are so many variables to consider – what if I get sick or experience some other emergency in life? Is there too much luck involved in reaching your goal that it is impossible to set a date? Do you believe that there is a divine force and that you are not going to change the result, so it is acceptable to march along the standard path? For now, identify the timing that seems reasonable based on what others have achieved. Of course, this means you are referring to those who seem to control their destiny.
Create a plan for meeting a goal and start now to put things into motion
For some, the ability to assemble an effective plan will come easy. For many that are seeking to achieve a financial goal for the first time, this may be the challenge. In the financial/investing space, we follow the advice of our advisor. They tell us how much to save to meet our retirement goals. If you want to blend in with the rest of the population and work until you are in your 60’s or 70’s, then you can follow conventional means. If you want to achieve something meaningfully different then you need to take more dramatic action to achieve different results – benchmarking and exceeding conventional decisions. There are several ways you can achieve financial freedom more quickly. Identifying how to create multiple streams of income will certainly help on the financial front. For other goals, look around at successful people, what do they have in common that can be replicated to allow you to excel at meeting your goals. Identify what you want to do, get a mentor or dive into podcasts that support information on the subject. Do not get stuck in the planning phase, make sure you start take action toward your plan!
Clear statement of goals and timelines … what you are going to do to achieve it.
Now it is time to tell yourself what you need to do and what it will mean to you when you accomplish it. Take some time to write clear and detailed statement of what you are trying to achieve. Are you trying to reach a million dollars of net worth in 10 years? Maybe it is to generate enough cashflow so you can quite your job and saving for retirement is a second goal you seek after the first is met. In either case you want to write down your goal and be able to visualize what the meaning of it is, short and long term.
Next, describe the timeline and what milestones you envision hitting as you seek your goal. Setup some short-term milestones and some medium term milestones.
Read your written statement once in the evening and again when you wake up in the morning. Do this each day to plant it as reality, as a mission. Visualize what you are trying to achieve and place yourself in the process of achieving it. Visualize, visualize, visualize. Make it an obsession – when you convince yourself that you will have it and you understand and commit what it takes to achieve it, you will be in the correct mindset to achieve the goal.
There is no need to make ridiculous goals or expect unreasonable outcomes. The proper planning and rational approach will be the foundation and the DESIRE that you apply to the execution of the plan will allow you to achieve the financial goals you are seeking.
If you can hold course for the 2 year, 5 year and 10 year spans, you will be amazed at where you end up. Small steps add up to big progress toward your long-term goal. In the examples presented by Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, he repeatedly shows how you will achieve your goal of amassing riches if you stay the course. You do get to decide the form of those “Riches” you wish to have.
Go out and identify your goal, define your success, and pour your true desire into the activities necessary to achieve your dream. Remember, Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb on the first attempt. After hundreds and hundreds of attempts, the incandescent light bulb finally was able to meet the vision that Mr. Edison had in the beginning. Be a dreamer and use your desire (Why) to achieve those dreams!
Note:
Napoleon Hill’s book is rather length, but I recommend that you read it if you have not had the opportunity to do so. It has so much valuable content that I’ll be referring to it in future blog posts as I digest the segments during my 3rdpass of the book.