If you want to achieve anything significant in life, you need to know what you want. What you truly want, down to the most excruciatingly specific, unique detail.
If what you want is amongst the most expensive and exclusive products on earth, it’s totally fine. If you want amazing trips and vacations, cool. These are the means that will drive you to create something beyond yourself. You need to be brutally honest with yourself before you can achieve true value in your work. The most successful people know exactly what they want and exactly what they’re willing to give — so should you.
What you should never do (despite the reality that so many people do so) is pretend to want something to comply with rules of socialization. Embrace what you want and be selfish at first. When that much is actualized, you’ll know what you’re willing to offer. If you get caught up in the game of pretending or assuming, you lose track of both what you want and how to get there.
Being Limitless
If you start with a notion of being limitless, you can edit your goals down to reality. But if you start with reality, you can never create a vision of limitlessness. You need a grasp on exactly what you’re willing to give and what you can expect to get in return. In a world where there are people who already think limitless terms, the only way to keep up is to stay limitless as well.
Then, after you take care of yourself and obtain what you need, you can help others. If you want to create something of value but you’re incomplete, you need to become complete. Investing in yourself or giving yourself what you truly want isn’t selfish – it’s smart. It’s being pragmatic. It’s an investment.
The Balance of Want and Give
Consider Person A. Person A wants to help with a charity because he wants to adhere to social standards, but he’s not really interested in his altruistic activities. Then there’s Person B. Person B is unapologetic about wanting fast cars and nice clothes. He says that after getting those things, he will then be charitable.
There's nothing wrong with the second example — it's actually recommended. You need to possess power so that when you decide to help others, you will be capable to do so. Remember, having material possessions and giving back are not mutually exclusive. You're not choosing between giving to charity and having material possessions — it's a double certainty. Be certain you're going to have what you want, and then you'll give back to the world. You're just ordering your priorities in a way that empowers you first.
There’s a balance between what you want and what you want to give back to the world. I have no problems wanting some very extravagant things because I give a massive amount of value in return.
Having everything you want is not an option, it’s a necessity. Naturally, you don’t need these things in order to perform or survive, but you need them in order to possess a level of satisfaction from within.
My point is this: when you need to perform at an absolutely stellar level, you absolutely need stellar rewards for motivation. Top performers know they need to be amazing at their crafts to yield amazing careers.
It’s better to declare that you want it all than to try to want something “reasonable.” You need to know exactly what you want and what you are willing to give.
