I See People Wanting! They’re Everywhere!

I’ve been a coach for over a decade now and I’ve worked with entrepreneurs, business owners, couples, families, singles, students, and just regular old ordinary people who want more for themselves and their families.

They want to accomplish more, do more, achieve more.

They want to start their own businesses, leave their jobs, begin anew in life.

They want to pursue the life they always wanted.

They want; they want; they want;

And it’s awesome.

I love working with people who want more for themselves – legally, ethically, and responsibly that is.

It tells me that they realize that there’s more to life than what they already have.

It tells me that they know that there’s more out there for them.

Life is abundant! You SHOULD want more!!

Of course, wanting is all well and good and wanting and not doing anything about it is a tragedy.

Knowing there’s more, wanting more… and then sitting around wishing for it and not doing anything to get it, unfortunately, is all too common.

A handful of people get it though.

A handful of people want and then go get.

A handful of people making things happen and open themselves up to receiving.

Others, just complain.

They sit around wishing.

They dream and they hope and they wish.

They just don’t do anything to achieve.

So why do some people who want something go and make it happen and others just continue to want and want and want and end up getting nothing?

I think the answer is obvious and let me recount a story I heard from a friend of mine.

The Old Man And His Dog

It’s a story about a guy who moved into a house and decided to go over and meet his neighbor one evening. The neighbor was an older gentleman who was sitting on his front porch in a rocking chair. Next to him lay his dog, who seemed up there in years as well, resting with his head down as if he was sleeping.

The old gentleman offered the guy a beer and told him to have a seat in another rocking chair. It was still early and he didn’t have anything to do that evening, so he said, “sure,” and took a seat.

So the two neighbors started talking for a few minutes and then all of the sudden the dog lifted his head and let’s out a loud howl, “ARRRROOOOOOO……………!” The guy was so shocked he almost spilled his beer! Once the dog was done, he put his head back down and seemed like he went back to sleep.

The old gentleman didn’t say anything and just continued with the conversation. Since the old guy didn’t seem to make a big deal out of it – or any deal at all, the neighbor decided to ignore the dog and get back into the conversation. Still, it was kinda weird.

So a few more minutes passed and the neighbor was just starting to relax again when all of the sudden the old dog lifts his head again and let’s out another loud, painful howl, “ARRRRRRARRRRRRRARRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOO………..!”

This time the guy was rocking backwards in his chair and almost completely fell out! “Holey Moley!!! What the heck was that??!?” he thought!!

Again, the dog finished and put his head down, and the old neighbor without a beat picked right up with the conversation as if nothing happened.

The guy looked around expecting to see something and well… nothing. The old guy didn’t even seem to notice and the dog looked like he was sleeping again. “I must be going crazy,” he thought. He shook his head and continued on listening to the old neighbor. He decided to keep one eye on the dog though just in case he wasn’t imagining things.

Several more minutes passed and nothing happened, so the guy started to let his guard down again. It was starting to get late, so he decided to finish his beer and get going and wouldn’t you know it?!? Just as he pulled up his can to take a drink, the old dog raised his head and belted out another long, drawn out howl just as loud as the previous two, “AAARRRRRRRRRAAAARARRRRRRRARRRRRROOOOOOOO!!!!

The guy almost choked to death on his beer and quickly jumped out of his seat!   He looked over at the neighbor and flustered, he yelled out, “What the heck!!!! Why does your dog keep howling like that?!?!?”””

The old man just looked at him for a bit with a bemused looked before answering, “Oh, he does that all the time, don’t mind him.”

The guy looked at the dog, who was now resting again, and then back at the old man and said, “Why does he keep doing that?   That’s not normal you know!”

“Well you see,” said the old man, “he’s laying on a nail and it bothers him, so he let’s out a whine every now and then.”

“What,” thought the neighbor? “Well why doesn’t he just get up and move then,” he asked the old man?

“Oh,” said the old man, “well that’s because it doesn’t bother him enough yet to get up and move.”

And there you have it…

How many people do you know that once in a while they’ll complain about something that’s bother them, or talk about something they want, or get annoyed at something happening around them – and yet they don’t do anything about it?

Every time you see them, they talk about the same thing over and over again and yet…

They’re Stuck

Stuck in their own head.

Stuck in their own way.

Stuck in their own self-made rut – because something doesn’t bother them enough or they just don’t want something bad enough.

Often times I’ll start off an event and I’ll ask the audience, “How bad do you want it?”

It’s interesting because people will inevitably answer something like, “really bad!” or “Oh yeah, I want it!” or how about, “So bad it hurts!”

Not sure if I ever heard anyone say, “well, not that bad. I’m just here wasting my time.”

That of course is the truth for a lot of people though.

Think about it… when was the last time you wanted something REALLY, REALLY, bad?

What Did You Want?

How did it make you feel to want something so bad?

What were you willing to do in order to get it?

Did you want it so bad that you could taste it?

Did you want it so bad that it hurt?

Did you let anything stop you?

Did you let anyONE stop you?

Did people call you crazy? Determined? Fixated? Committed?

How BAD did you want it?

Think about your first crush!

How bad did you want to be friends with that other person?

How bad did you want them to like you?

How bad did you want to just hang out with them?

How bad did you want them to care about you?

How bad did it hurt?

Did it feel like there was a hole in your heart?

Did it feel like the birds started chirping and the sun came out every time they approached you?

That the clouds parted and there was now world peace?

O.k. so life isn’t a cartoon and some of you get my point.

What else?

What else have you wanted in your life?

What else have you really, truly desired?

And again, what were you willing to do in order to get it?

And boy, did I digress!

The Truth

I digress though because often times, people tell themselves something that’s just not really true.

They’re just fooling themselves.

For many people who are “looking” to start a new career, job, vocation, it’s just a “nice to have”.

For some people looking to start “something on the side”, it’s just to scratch an itch.

Some people tell themselves, “Well if I can only make enough money over here, I can quit doing this over here.”

Unfortunately, someone doing something just for money usually doesn’t work because they just don’t want it “bad enough.”

So before you go down a path of doing something, achieving something, accomplishing something, ask yourself, “How bad do I want it?”

And then… here’s the trick… be honest with yourself.

You see, most people tell themselves that they want something really bad, and then when push comes to shove, they give up.

When the going gets tough, the not so badders (o.k., that’s not really a word), just give up.

Everyone falls down.

Everyone makes mistakes.

Everyone fails.

The ones who want it bad enough, get back up.

The ones who don’t, make up some excuse as to why they failed, and then give up.

If you want to succeed…

If you want to accomplish something that you’ve never accomplished before…

If you want to do something that not everyone can do…

Then you’ve got to want it so bad that you’re willing to face the music…

You’ve got to want it so bad that you’re willing to put up with the pain…

You’ve got to want it so bad that you have a singular focus of achieving that greatness…

You’ve got to want it so bad that you do whatever it takes to achieve it – legally, ethically, and responsibly again of course.

I’ve seen it over and over again.

If you don’t want it bad enough, you won’t get it.

So ask yourself, “How bad do you want it?”

Now go and get it!

And don’t let anything get in your way!

You can do it!

Believe in yourself.

Believe in your power.

Believe in your strength.

And go make it happen!!

Celebrate Life!

Chaffee-Thanh Nguyen