Is Your Desire for Success Actually Preventing You From It?
Desire. It’s a simple word with profound implications.
This emotion may range from a mild wanting to an obsessive, driven craving for something or someone.
It manifests as greed, obsession, hunger, envy, jealousy, clinging, hoarding, ruthlessness, fixation, frenzy, exaggeration, over-ambition, selfishness, lust, possessiveness, control, glamorization, insatiability, and acquisitiveness.
The essence of desire is its drivenness.
“Never satisfied.” “Never enough.” “Must have.”
The common feeling amongst driven individuals.
When we are at the effect of desire, we are no longer free.
We are controlled by it,
run by it,
enslaved by it.
There is often a lack of understanding of the function of wanting and desire.
The main illusion is seen in the statement, “The only way that I’ll get what I want is by desiring it; if I let go of my desire, then I won’t get what I want.”
The truth is, the opposite is true.
Desire, especially strong desire (e.g., cravingness), frequently blocks our getting what we want.
The desiring itself is the obstacle to its achievement or acquisition because desire literally means, “I do not have.”
When we say that we desire something, we are saying that it isn’t ours.
The more you desire peak performance, the more you might get in your own way, leading to stress and struggle.
The more you desire success, the busier and more complicated your life becomes.
The more you desire peace and happiness, the more your mind races.
Does this sound familiar?
Letting go of desire doesn't mean abandoning goals, but choosing them consciously and allowing the weight of their importance to fall off our shoulders.
For the player who enjoys the game exactly for what it is,
whether it be in the boardroom or on the golf course,
winning and losing means nothing.
The game provides an opportunity for playing it. It offers nothing else.
There is absolutely nothing to be gained.
There is nothing to be lost.
For the player who enjoys the game,
the ups and downs are not sources of frustration.
The unpredictability is what makes the game the game.
If it were predictable, it would not be enjoyable.
Many players play the game demanding and expecting that everything goes their way.
Perhaps this is why they need mental coaching...
Everything comes back to the understanding
that the desire for winning, results, and performing well
is the cause of our stress.
This understanding allows us to let go of that desire and become the most important thing in the world:
FREE.
"The need to win is directly at odds with discovering the ultimate potential of a human being."
To Your Success!
Alec