The Power of Intense Want. How Desire Drives Achievement

Forget casual ambition — that’s the recipe for a lukewarm life. We’re talking craving, yearning, an insatiable hunger that drives you to scale mountains and punch the impossible in the face. This is the fuel that ignites history’s most astonishing achievements, and guess what? It’s burning inside you too.

This relentless hunger paints the soul with an insatiable thirst, not for water or gold, but for the exquisite nectar of achievement. It sculpts callouses on the mind, not from toil, but from the constant friction of ambition against limitations. This primal yearning whispers promises of triumphs yet unseen, unheard, but oh so desperately felt.

As Steve Jobs put it, “You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right.”

I aim to convince you of the formidable power unlocked when rational desires intensify into passionate wanting. My goal is to explore how tapping into intense human craving can enable feats previously unfathomable. While want alone does not guarantee success, it dramatically expands what becomes achievable.

The Power of Intense Wanting

Wanting something mildly is not the same as craving it deeply. When you really burn with intense desire, it transforms your behaviour:

First, fierce wanting focuses your concentration totally. You become obsessed, fixated on obtaining your desire. It dominates your thoughts, blocking out distractions. Mild interest brings the occasional daydream, but intense craving brings laser-like focus.

Second, strong craving drives creative problem-solving. If obstacles arise, your imagination kicks into high gear to find workarounds. You exhaust every option to fulfil your want. Roadblocks that stop the mildly interested only ignite your obsessed creativity.

Third, intense wanting makes sacrifice feel easy. You’ll gladly endure hardships to satisfy your craving that seem ridiculous otherwise. Things like leisure and stability matter less when feeding an all-consuming desire.

Fourth, burning desire drives urgent action. While mild interest leads to idle speculation, deep craving forces bold moves. You stop procrastinating and seize each moment to get what you want so badly.

When casual interest transforms into irresistible wanting, previously impossible goals become relentless pursuits. Desires once seen as implausible fantasies turn into passionate missions.

The spark of mild interest is not enough — you need the wildfire of intense craving.

Harnessing the Power of Desire Productively

Raw, intense desire holds incredible motivational power. But to harness it constructively, certain principles apply:

Direct passion toward endeavours with deeper, long-term significance. Craving wealth, fame or status often leaves one empty. But desiring to create, innovate and solve meaningful problems channels ambition productively.

Balance non-attachment to specific outcomes with full commitment to the process. In creative work, surrendering to the journey itself sustains more than fixating on arbitrary definitions of success.

Ensure ethical constraints govern desire. Ambition without conscience destroys. But desire fused with moral purpose drives social good.

Want wisely for its own sake. Be wary of society’s manufactured desires. Identify your authentic inner cravings.

Recognize want’s limitations. Even fierce desire cannot achieve the impossible. Temper appetite for the unfeasible with strategic pursuit of the achievable.

Within such constructive parameters, focused intense desire unlocks immense drive. Craving channelled sharply transforms the seemingly unobtainable into realizable pursuits.

The key is funnelling the incredible power of wanting toward purposes beyond oneself. This elevates desire from a source of fleeting pleasure to a driver of lasting fulfilment. With wisdom and ethics, want becomes an engine for realizing our highest human potential.

Turning Fantasy into Reality

History overflows with examples of intense human longing transforming fantasy into reality:

Pioneer aviators like the Wright Brothers endured waves of failed prototypes and crashes. But their fervent dream of flying elevated humans above the birds.

Elon Musk, driven by his burning ambition to colonize Mars, built rockets able to land and relaunch despite a thousand voices insisting his vision impossible.

Helen Keller, though blind and deaf since childhood, overcame countless barriers through her intense craving to connect with others. Her teacher Anne Sullivan remarked: “Her longing for knowledge made her stretch her hand a little farther out into the dark, to reach for one more sound or one more fact.”

Nelson Mandela endured decades of prison sustained by his revolutionary desire to end apartheid. His wanting powered his perseverance until he realized his life’s mission.

Such individuals possessed ambition similar to peers. But the intensity of want differentiated them. Their hunger would not be denied until their singular aims became reality.

Discovering Your Life’s True Calling

Life presents many options that may seem mildly interesting. But real fulfilment comes when you identify and embrace aims that align with your deepest desires. Figuring out not just what you could do, but what you truly want to do is key.

Nurture intense, constructive passion. Let it focus your energies, fuel your persistence, and make sacrifice seem inconsequential. Its fire will empower you to push past obstacles that appear insurmountable when desire is mild.

Pair that fire with ethical direction and non-attachment to outcomes. Then take decisive action daily to pursue your hunger. With this approach, you gain the power to manifest bold visions that the apathetic abandon as impossible.

Your calling is out there, yearning to be embraced. It awaits your wanting. When you discover and devote yourself to what you’re truly meant to do, your life becomes profoundly fulfilling.

Don’t settle for complacency. Keep exploring until you find endeavours that align with your deepest desires. That resonance will unlock purpose, joy and achievement beyond what you imagined possible.

First seen on Medium