$50000 Problem

[Bradshaw]

1. John has a deep desire to make $50000
2. John believes he has the ability to make $50000. John is extremely confident in what he is going to do to make $50000.
3. John believes it is his destiny to make $50000. All his life he has been around things related to the means he is going to use to accomplish this goal.
4. John is, indeed, incredibly good at doing the things he needs to do to make $50000.
5. John loves learning what is necessary to make $50000. He very much enjoys the process of learning about something.
6. John has a lot of fun doing what is necessary to accomplish $50000.
7. John has been told by his friends that he is incredible at doing the things related to making $50000.

John does not take actually take action on his desire.

Can you explain this?

[SmellyOrc]

Fear of succes.

[Smarky]

Because he is focused on the money and not doing the great things that will earn him that. Is desire is misplaced.

Money is a by product.

[mlc82]

Originally Posted by Smarky

Because he is focused on the money and not doing the great things that will earn him that. Is desire is misplaced.

Money is a by product.

Really well said, though likely an obvious statement to everyone but me

[Steve Pavlina]

John set an incredibly lame goal. A number in a bank account? That's about as inspiring as a doorknob. Those kinds of goals sell a lot of info products, but that's about it.

I have more than $50K in my bank account right now, but I didn't get it by setting a goal to make $50K. I got there by realizing that $50K is a stupid, pointless goal. Instead I set goals I found really inspiring and interesting, and $50K+ flowed into my bank account as a matter of following that bigger, more interesting goal. But whether it's $5K, $50K, or $500K is of little consequence. If the goal doesn't inspire you to action, it's a dud.

What kind of goal would you die to achieve? I guarantee it isn't a number in a bank account. If you wouldn't die for it, then you won't live for it either.

[Niki]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

John set an incredibly lame goal. A number in a bank account? That's about as inspiring as a doorknob. Those kinds of goals sell a lot of info products, but that's about it.

I have more than $50K in my bank account right now, but I didn't get it by setting a goal to make $50K. I got there by realizing that $50K is a stupid, pointless goal. Instead I set goals I found really inspiring and interesting, and $50K+ flowed into my bank account as a matter of following that bigger, more interesting goal. But whether it's $5K, $50K, or $500K is of little consequence. If the goal doesn't inspire you to action, it's a dud.

What kind of goal would you die to achieve? I guarantee it isn't a number in a bank account. If you wouldn't die for it, then you won't live for it either.

Would you die for your goals?

[Smarky]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

What kind of goal would you die to achieve? I guarantee it isn't a number in a bank account. If you wouldn't die for it, then you won't live for it either.

Wow I love this. Thank you Steve!! This is so so true! I have a thread about powerful questions, this is one of them!

So so true, we all die anyway and every second of time we are dying, so really all our goals should be ones that we would die to achieve, because really that is what we are really doing anyway =)

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by Niki

Would you die for your goals?

Of course. Otherwise they'd be lame goals.

Mentally play around with the idea that you're already dead, and see how irrelevant most goals seem. Then think about which goals still seem meaningful.

For instance, helping people live more consciously is an inspiring goal to me. I'd die for that one. I'd also keep working on it after I'm dead, assuming there's some kind of afterlife. But if there isn't an afterlife, the stuff I leave behind (hundreds of articles, some audio, and a book) can keep providing value long after I'm gone. That's worth dying for IMO; therefore, it's sure worth living for.

[Niki]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Of course. Otherwise they'd be lame goals.

Mentally play around with the idea that you're already dead, and see how irrelevant most goals seem. Then think about which goals still seem meaningful.

For instance, helping people live more consciously is an inspiring goal to me. I'd die for that one. I'd also keep working on it after I'm dead, assuming there's some kind of afterlife. But if there isn't an afterlife, the stuff I leave behind (hundreds of articles, some audio, and a book) can keep providing value long after I'm gone. That's worth dying for IMO; therefore, it's sure worth living for.

That's a pretty powerful belief you got there. I will feel free to adopt that belief from you. I only have one problem doing it. Every goal I have seems irrelevant when playing dead.

I did the Life Purpose thing a few days ago, and I came out with a partially purpose. 'To show the world it's true potential'. But honestly, I lack the motivation to show the world it's true potential. The only thing I feel motivated for is making music. And that's only the making part, because I lack motivation to learn crucial musical skills to use this as a tool to show the world it's true potential.

It's strange. When I'm tired in bed, I think I can handle the world, but when I"m really handling the world this feeling suddenly drops just like my motivation.

I think I don't see something, or just don't get something to get me going. I tried to "just go" but that doesn't help too.

Is it a definite purpose I need, or is it more personal power?
Do I need nothing, or do I need more self knowledge? I don't know.

Hopefully your book will provide me with the insights so I can get myself going.

Peace

[ivorytickler]

Lack of confidence. Lack of desire to suceed. Or maybe imposter syndrome? When we are, naturally, good at things, that talent can feel like luck and you can be left wondering when your luck will run out and take a why chance it attitude.

In some ways, being intelligent/having talent feels like winning the lotto. We may not be able to duplicate results tomorrow even if we do play the same numbers.

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by Niki

I lack the motivation to show the world it's true potential.

I'll take a leap here.

When I read that line, my intuition said, "No, that's not it." It said motivation is the wrong word and that what you're really thinking is this:

I lack the courage to show the world it's true potential.

And also:

I lack the courage to fully express my own true potential.

Do those lines resonate with you at all?

Normally what stops us is fear. We lack motivation when we're unwilling to go after the goals that expose our weaknesses.

Tell youself, "I am enough. I'm strong enough to fulfill my purpose."

[Niki]

"I lack the courage to fully express my own true potential." This one strikes a cord with me.

If I take my previous post and change every instance of "motivation" with "courage" it suddenly makes more sense. Even the things I can do to create a more fulfilling life are unfolding in front of me. And when I get ready to do stuff, the feeling that was holding me back to take action is suddenly more clear to me, this isn't a feeling of "non-motivation", this is pure genuine FEAR! I think I just have to... "Feel the fear and do it anyway".

I know I have decent values, beliefs and knowledge to create a fulfilling future, now I want to develop the courage to do what I want and need to do!

"Courage is the gateway in the sense that you must first learn to face down your fears, even as they still appear real to you. As long as you avoid them, you continue to weaken yourself. But face them and they dissolve."
Courage is the Gateway

Wikipedia:
Courage, also known as fortitude, is the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation. It can be divided into "physical courage" — in face of physical pain, hardship, and threat of death — and "moral courage" — in the face of shame, scandal, and discouragement.

Thanks a million Steve! The identification of the real obstacle provides me with a way to jump over it.

BTW, Did you ever had the thought of becoming a personal coach, or to develop a program for coaches?

Peace

[Dave Kaminski]

He is a coach, he just takes a unique approach in his pricing model. I might be stretching here, but I'd say he's touched more people than any personal development coach who occupies the traditional pricing method.

Hell, he may even be making bigger strides with a lot of us than a personal coach would as we're strengthening ourselves by taking his advice by the articles and not his word. It's our own interpretation of truth instead of a modified palatable version from a "coach" who would know our intricacies. I like it better this way

[clementc82]

He does not have the force or reason wanting to generate that kind of money?

[z1freeride]

We tend to procrastinate because we perceive that doing the activity feels more painful than not doing it until we reach a point where to continue in that way becomes more painful than actually doing the activity. Sometimes we never reach that point and procrastinate for our entire lives on certain issues. Often though, the activity in question has a direct importance for us and we know that we must fulfill it. This causes us to think about it but the difficulty of it causes us to turn away from it and to feel bad. When this happens we feel and enact procrastination most vividly.

-Nick Pagan

[JimOfferman]

Originally Posted by Bradshaw

1. John has a deep desire to make $50000

No, John only thinks he has that deep desire, but he doesn't. If acquiring money really was his deepest desire, the number would be bigger and the motivation to get it would not be lacking.

I agree with Steve that you should be doing the thing you would die for, which in my case happens to be making music.

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

I have more than $50K in my bank account right now, but I didn't get it by setting a goal to make $50K.

What about the "Million Dollar Experiment" where you set to attract an extra $1,000,000?

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by seeker5

What about the "Million Dollar Experiment" where you set to attract an extra $1,000,000?

That was an intention experiment, not a goal/plan. One thing I learned from doing that experiment is that I don't need to attract $1M. I wrote a little about this in my book.

[z1freeride]

Originally Posted by JimOfferman

No, John only thinks he has that deep desire, but he doesn't. If acquiring money really was his deepest desire, the number would be bigger and the motivation to get it would not be lacking.

I agree with Steve that you should be doing the thing you would die for, which in my case happens to be making music.

I think you can also make smaller goals which you wouldn't necessarily want to die for but still yet want to accomplish.

Also, what amount of money would indicate a healthy amount of "deep" desire? 1 Million? 2 Million? 3 Trillion? Who's to say? 5 Gazillion?