Can you guess the hardest question that I pose to my clients? As kids, we could answer this instantly. We’d provide a detailed list. It’s amazing how much trouble adults have answering this one question. 

There are a lot of “supposed to” overlays. There are non-existent rules imposed on the answer. And, for each of us, there’s only one really “right” answer. Knowing the answer affects everything – and I mean EVERYTHING in your life. And not knowing, well that keeps you comfortably numb. 

Oddly enough, a lot of people choose that. It’s easier.

As a leader, you need to know for yourself and it’d help if you knew the answer for each of your team members, as well. As a parent, colleague, and friend, it’s great to know the answer for those around you. That is, it’s great as long as you know the answer for yourself first.

So what’s this big mysterious question? It’s simply this:

What Do You Truly Desire?

You can’t have a desire without the potential to fulfill it being available. What you desire is uniquely yours. Where people get lost is in thinking in terms of what they should desire. Most people start with, “I’d like a million dollars.” But that doesn’t really answer the question. Because “a million dollars” isn’t what they really want. What most people want is the idea of what a million dollars will buy them. 

What you want now is different from what you wanted as a kid. Allow for shifts in priorities. What do you want for yourself? What do you want to have? What do you want to do? What kind of person do you want to become? 

Knowing the answers to those three questions – what do you want to have, to do, or to become – creates a filter for your actions. Most people have a decision-clarity issue, not an execution issue. Once you can answer what you want, you easily guide yourself toward that and away from anything not that. 

I have close friends and family members who have a gluten allergy. What’s the first thing they want? They want to have their bodies feeling good. When they shop, doughnuts, bread, and even soy sauce becomes a “not that” exclusion. “I truly desire a healthy body” allows you to focus on what’s in and what’s out, almost aisle-by-aisle in the grocery store. 

“I want to travel the world” means that you’re looking for ways to do that. You become attuned to opportunities that might’ve been there all along. 

When you get clear and declare, you open to what I call Your Next Big Next. Give yourself a chance to reflect every six months or so. What do you truly want? What does having, doing, or being that get you? Fine tune the answers you give yourself and take action to move towards them. Consistent action, while filtering for what’s in and what’s out, will get you to your Next Big Next. So, what do you truly desire?

That… that thing you weren’t sure was okay to say outloud. That. Go for it!

Keep making your magic!

= Wayne =