June 2007

EDITOR’S COLUMN: THE CATCH-22 OF DESIRE

According to every success guru from Napoleon Hill to W. Clement Stone and Anthony Robbins, desire is the ultimate cause of success. We succeed because we desire to succeed. We get rich because we desire to do so. We become great executives because we desire to do so. As the Reverend Norman Vincent Peale reminded us, “It’s because you get what you focus on.” If you focus on wanting something long enough, have a passion for it, and take the appropriate actions, you’re guaranteed to achieve the desired result. This is known as the Universal Law of Success.

As with anything else, desire has its dark side. Texts from every religion teach that desire can be the source of great pain and evil. We’re told that when we’re in a state of desire, we’re no longer present; we’re either running away from our past or running toward our future, so we’re running right past the now. For example, we might desire to go on a hike because we seek balance in our lives. But if we view the hike as something to accomplish, we miss the journey completely. We walk right past the flowers without bothering to smell them. We see the grandiose trees, but don’t feel them. We never get this sense of balance that we seek because we run right past it.

This is the yin and yang of desire. It can propel us toward action and yet, at the same time, keep us from being present on the journey. How do you reconcile this paradox? The answer is clear: First, make sure that your desire is coming from the right place — a higher place. If it’s driven by the ego, or one of the Seven Deadly Sins, your desire is guaranteed to produce far more pain than pleasure. Assuming that the desire is righteous, then plan accordingly and let go. As Ekhart Tolle (in The Power of Now) reminds us, “Focus your attention on the future only to the extent that it’s practical to do so.” Keep your attention on the present. Again, there’s no power in the future; only in the present. You can only lead people, or sell, or grow your business in the present.

As the late football coach George Allen put it, “The future is now!” Perhaps the greatest desire of all should be the desire to be in the now.