The Difference Between Wanting to Do Something and Doing It

As I contemplate the last seven months of writing one story a day, it becomes very clear that what I am doing is nothing special. In fact it is what every successful person does every day of their lives. It's also the reason there aren't that many successful people, by whatever measure they use on themselves.

It's the difference between wanting and doing. Everyone wants something, whether it's money, happiness, hobbies completed, a book written, a spouse, a friend, or a house. How many people have you heard state that they've wanted a certain thing for a very long time but they never seem any closer to making it happen? Be honest, it's almost everyone, including you.

If you see yourself here, ask yourself one question and come up with a very honest answer. Why don't you have what you want? The honest answer is that you don't want it badly enough to make it a priority in your life. If you did that, you would have what you want.

Last year, I attempted to start writing on one or more of my blogs once a day. Now a lot of people do this but above 99 percent of all bloggers don't. It's hard, it takes a lot of work and time, it takes commitment. I even joined a couple of challenges and failed miserably, the first one after five or six posts and the second after 15 posts of a 30-day challenge. For a writer this is a sad situation indeed.

Yes, I had excuses but the simple truth is that I forgot and then didn't follow through. These contests weren't important enough to me. I had other work going on, book projects, clients, speeches, and so forth. Doing the writing wasn't important enough.

When August rolled around, I wondered what I could do to get back on track. The best path seemed to set an insurmountable goal and then attempt to achieve it. Why the best? It was a challenge that I would put out publicly so that I couldn't fail. I made this blog part of what I do every day, no matter what.

Achieving a goal is simply taking the actions that lead to success. In my case, the goal was to write one story a day for one year. That goal is very clear and very straightforward. I know exactly what I need to do to make that goal. Write a story. Every day.

If you look to the right side of the blog you will see the months since August and you will see that there is a post for every day since August 25. Instead of wishing I could write a story every day for a year, I started doing it. Interestingly, it wasn't that hard once I made the decision to do it. I may do it late at night, in the morning, at lunch, whenever. They key point is that I do it.

The goal of writing a story a day for 365 straight days seems impossible, if viewed as a whole. The goal of writing a story every day seems impossible. The goal of writing a story before you go to bed that night isn't so impossible. In fact writing one story before you go to bed is easy. So here it's gone, one day at a time, with great success.

This is how goal achievement works. It's not a big chunk you have to swallow all at once. It is a step by step process where you do one item at a time without worrying about all the other items you will need to do. I don't think about coming up with 100 story ideas. All I need is one, right now.

Try it with whatever you want right now. Start today, right after you read this post. Then keep doing it piece by piece until your goal is met.