There is a quote by James Clear and it goes “It doesn't make sense to continue wanting something if you're not willing to do what it takes to get it.” The second part is even more brutal, if you don't want to live the lifestyle required to achieve something, then maybe you should release yourself from the desire altogether. In other words, stop wanting the destination if you're not willing to take the journey.
Do i agree with the quote? Yes..… but only to a point., Why? because we live in a world where everybody wants the result. Everybody wants to be successful, wealthy, respected, educated, influential, or whatever their personal definition of “making it” happens to be. We want the house, but not the years of saving. We want the degree, but not the late nights. We want the business, but not the years when nobody knows our name. We want to be excellent, but we don't necessarily want to spend years being terrible at something before becoming good at it, especially this last point, cos it begs the question what are you so scared of?? People dont even care!
We love the highlight reel, we just don't particularly enjoy the behind the scenes and dare i say social media has made this even worse. You see someone celebrating an achievement in a 30 second video, but you don't see the thousands of boring hours that came before it. You see the finished product and somehow convince yourself that the finished product was the process.
It wasn't. I mean even on this platform, you see some accounts with bigger rewards, who joined years ago and think to yourself you can achieve same in just months and when you dont get same results, people just quit. Life doesnt work like that, and with that mindset you'll find yourself just spiralling in life. I am also trying to be more consistent on Hive not just for the rewards but for the mindset i want to build.
The problem is that sometimes we don't actually want the thing we say we want. We want what the thing represents, maybe you don't want to be famous. You want to be admired. Maybe you don't want to be wealthy. You want freedom, maybe you don't want to be a CEO. You want respect and prestige that comes with it. This is where the quote becomes uncomfortable, because if you want the result but absolutely hate everything associated with achieving it, and therein lies the hidden problem.
But then again from another persepective here is where I disagree with the quote a little. I don't think you should automatically “release yourself from the desire” just because you're currently unwilling to do everything required to achieve it. People change. Your priorities change, circumstances change. Sometimes you genuinely want something but simply aren't ready for the process yet. You might not have the money, knowledge, confidence, time or opportunity. That doesn't necessarily mean the dream is fake. Sometimes you just need to grow into the person capable of pursuing it.
Sometimes people work incredibly hard and still don't get what they want. Sometimes even luck matters. Having the right people around you matters. Two people can put in enormous effort and still get completely different results. So I wouldn't tell someone to abandon a dream simply because the process is difficult, but I would tell them to stop romanticising the outcome.
If you want to become something, learn what becoming that person actually looks like. Wanting to become an excellent lawyer sounds impressive until you realise it involves reading cases nobody else wants to read and spending hours obsessing over details that may never matter in court. Wanting to become a successful entrepreneur sounds exciting until you realise that some days involve doing incredibly boring things that have absolutely nothing to do with the glamorous image of entrepreneurship.
The controversial part is this, maybe we need to stop calling everything a dream. Some things are just fantasies we enjoy thinking about and that's okay. You don't have to become everything you once imagined but if you genuinely want something, at some point the fantasy has to meet reality. You have to ask what it costs. You have to decide whether you're willing to pay that cost and if the answer is no, that's not necessarily failure either. Maybe it simply means you value something else more.
