There are 3 things that are going to get you where you want to be:
1. Know what you want.
2. Know that it is possible to get what you want
3. Know you deserve what you want.

Let’s talk about that first one. The first one, knowing what you want, will stifle everything else. Do you really believe you know what you want? Do you know what you want like you know the sun is coming up tomorrow, like you know you are going to take your next breath?

Too many of us are conditioned to want certain things or to want them in a certain way. Just like every kid wants the same toy at Christmas, we, as adults, are conditioned by marketing, peer pressure, and the media to want certain things.

But being told what to want is not the same as really wanting. We are told we need to look a certain way…our bodies need to conform to certain ideal. Our faces need to be characterless caricatures of real life. My face tells a story. My body carries all the starts and stops of my life, all the chapters of the book my life is writing. It is mine.

So how do I sift through all the messages and decide what it is I really want. Not what my family thinks I should want. Not what the collective wisdom forces upon me. Not some idealized version of me and my life (Ken & Barbie, Ozzie and Harriet, etc.) But what I really want.

It’s simple, really. When you write that thing down your heart sings. When you imagine yourself as that person you smile and nod with satisfaction. When you see the work involved, the sacrifices to be made, and the effort to be expended you roll up your sleeves and say “bring it on!”

Quit being a slave to other people’s expectations for you. They aren’t you. They aren’t living in your body. They haven’t had your experiences, your depth of life. You and only you can decide what you really really want.

When what you really want is something you want like you want to breathe…then you will get what you want. There won’t be room for any excuses. There won’t be any vacillation or whining or cutting corners. Your goal will loom in front of you like a rising full moon and you will drive yourself to hang that moon yourself.

Figure out what you want…we will work on the rest later.

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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