An acid test for determining if you really want something

[strawzombie]

Sometimes I may say to myself and everyone around me phrases like:

"I want [X]"
"I should want [X]"
"Everyone else would kill for the chance to have [X]"
"Who in their right mind's wouldn't want [X]!"

...only to realize later on that I never really wanted [X] at all.....

Examples include certain high-paying jobs, certain relationships, "going back to school", "going back to work", "going back home", "getting away from home"... basically any major life decision you can think of.

This will probably sounds totally obvious, but I recently came across a cool "acid test" to see if you indeed really want something and thought I'd share it here. That acid test is basically how you frame and deal with setbacks.

Obvious "Personal Development 101" stuff, I know.

Personally, in the past, if I truly wanted something then there wasn't any setback within reason that could stop me from going after it. And when people told me I couldn't do [X] or have [X], it was just more fuel to push me towards it.

But if it was something that I only thought I wanted or convinced myself I should want, then ANY setback could block my way and probably did. It could be something as trivial as bad weather or just not feeling the right vibe that day, not having enough money or not having the right contacts. Anything.

I'm keeping this post abstract without any of my own personal examples, because I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this. Where maybe in one case you've wanted something so badly that nothing could stop you. But in another case, you convinced yourself that you wanted something just as badly, but instead pretty much anything could and did stop you.

[Swede]

I believe you are right. When I have really decided upon something it doesn't matter if I will have to walk through a hailstorm to get it. The discomfort automatically gets less discomfortable.

[JoeDRL]

I personally think you can't want something 100% the moment you think about it for the first time.

See, I think wanting something is more of like a process. First you think about something, then you realize all the benefits then you want it but not 100%. After thinking again and again that you want it your desire to obtain it will grow and it will eventually surpass the obstacles that you mentioned.

Maybe I don't understand your point but what can we want 100% whatever happens apart from... living?

Joe