What wanting costs

It is WayMaker Wednesday. We are talking about the space between wanting something and doing the work to earn it.

The Question

If wanting it was enough, would you have it by now?

The Thought

Most people want the outcome. The job, the body, the business, the relationship. They can picture it. They can feel it. They talk about it.

But wanting is free. Earning is not.

The investment is the gap between the two. Not some big sacrifice. The daily ones. The hour you put in when you would rather rest. The work you do before anyone is watching. The choice you make when the easier path is right there.

You have probably said "I want this" about something and then done very little. That is not failure. That is wanting without investing. And those are different things. One costs nothing. The other costs something every day.

The real question is not whether you want it. You do. The question is whether you will pay what it costs to earn it. If you will not, that is okay. But stop calling it a goal and call it a wish. Wishes are fine. Goals you are not working toward are just wishes with weight on them.

If you want it, invest in it. Pick one real thing you can do today. Do it. Then do another thing tomorrow.

That is how wanting becomes having.

Put It Into Action

The Investment Check

• Write down one thing you say you want but have not actively worked toward this week.
• Write down what it would actually take to earn it: the time, the effort, and what you would have to give up.
• Do one piece of that today. Not tomorrow. Today.
• The gap between wanting and having is always made of steps you have not taken yet.

Forward this to someone you know is stuck between wanting and doing.

Forge Forward,

Jon Mayo