I have always dwelled upon this question – what do I want from my life. Actually the picture of the vending machine below will set the scene well of what I am trying to focus on this blog.
On the head of the machine read “Forgotten Something?” and below that you find pretty much everything you can think of needing while travelling with a price tag. This made me think – can we make such a list of things that we need from our lives? Additionally, we also need to think of at what cost will we achieve it. Because if I simply ask you this question, then I am sure you can jot down a hundred things you desire in your life, but asking to add the price tag to those desires immediately helps you do the reality check.
Sometimes I think we get too carried away by desires – some of those feelings can stem from a genuine concern of securing our future, some may be pure indulgence and some may just be stupid wants with no basis whatsoever. We need to know where the check point is and what defines the fine line between wanting and desiring. Even though dictionary may write them as synonyms, for me “wanting” is more definitive than “desiring”. So I may “desire” a lot of things for which the price tag may be beyond my affordability, but I will “want” only those that have a reasonable price tag and are achievable for me. For example, I may “desire” a helipad on the terrace of my house, but I first “want” to own a house.
Therefore, I want you to create a list of “wants” and not “desires”. Have a price tag to your wants – given you have only filtered out those that come with reasonable price tag, this list of your “wants” will end up being reasonable as a result. You may or may not decide to put a time tag against them. The kind of person I am, I like defining timelines to achieve things, else they never happen for me. A relaxed attitude never takes you anywhere, your “want” has to be desperate enough to allow you to achieve it. And a time tag will ensure that desperation all the time. Our mind should be relaxed, but our approach should be desperate. Again there is a very fine difference between these two things, so you need to be careful.
I think this method will help us keep a check on our wants and desires. I am all up for dreaming big, but if you have to become big then you have to have an approach.