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How to Answer the Question “What is My Burning Desire?”

People are more successful when they are doing what they love to do. For this reason, it is essential to success to identify what one's burning desire is. Knowing the answer to the question “What is my burning desire?” helps people achieve the goals they set. Someone is much more likely to stay motivated when they really care about the outcome.

Some people are lucky enough to know the answer to this already. Others have to spend some time working on identifying their burning desire in order to succeed.

A burning desire is not a mere wish. A burning desire has the potential to be a driving force in your life. It is your passion, a reason for being.

If you haven't already, take a few minutes out to try to figure out what your burning desire is. Identify what have you been dreaming about and why. You may have a hunch what your burning desire is, but if you have never actually sat and thought about it, it may not be completely clear to you.

Knowing exactly what you want it the most important step in getting it. Without clarifying what your desire actually is you will never be able to set relevant goals to achieving it. Say you feel passionately about education. Without giving it any more thought, you may believe you want to be a teacher, when in actuality, you want to be a school administrator. Since these can be two very different goals, you may find yourself being unhappy without really knowing why.

To figure out if something is a burning desire, try writing down the reasons you want to reach a particular goal. List both negative and positive reasons. Exhaust all possibilities.

Next, visualize the reasons why you want your goal. In the case of education, seeing a child's smile, summers off, changing school policy. Actually SEE yourself doing these things. Visualization goes a long way when burning desires are involved. To make achieving your goal a positive experience, try to avoid visualization of the negative reasons.

If you find yourself asking professionals about their profession, then you may already be building your burning desire.

Now, figure out which reasons for your goal are the most emotional for you. The ones that you feel the strongest about are the ones that will help you achieve your burning desire. Continue to visualize these reasons and the end outcome each day.

Thinking about a burning desire in this way can really help in long-term goal setting, something that is a challenge for many people. Once you have determined what your burning desire is, you can plan the steps you will take to reach it. Having these steps planned out makes it much easier to achieve them than simply thinking “I wish I were...”, a trap many people fall into.

Use your visualization, or “mind's eye movie”, to motivate you throughout the process of realizing your burning desire. Rejoice in the fact that you have a purpose and a plan clearly laid out. Of course, not everything always goes according to plan, but know that what you do now about your burning desire will make it easier to regroup if you stray off course. Build your burning desire and then achieve it.

The previous article is on Creative Visualization.

Other wiki resources: personal development; goal setting; getting things done; cause and effect; creative visualization