On burning desire

“Desire is the starting point of all achievement.” — Napoleon Hill

Desire is ubiquitous.

We all desire something, with varying degrees of intensity, and we name all of it desire nonetheless. This does a disservice to burning desire, which has nothing to do with whimsical cravings we get here and there. We don’t have distinct words for the differing levels of desire we experience. But we should.

Napoleon Hill talks about burning desire in his classic book ‘Think and Grow Rich’. He says it’s a precondition to abundance, a conditio sine qua non. At first I considered this wishful thinking, something to which untalented people resort to feel better about themselves. Now, however, I have developed a growing appreciation for it.

It is not until you start a business, commit to winning an olympic medal, or set yourself to earning a Nobel Prize that you realise what a burning desire truly means.

Only a burning desire can brute-force reality into your will. Only a burning desire can get you to make sacrifices, or look foolish in front of the world for a long time before you’re proved right.

This burning desire has more of obsession than desire, and it can look unhealthy to outsiders. And in a way, it can be unhealthy, because it’s like an all-encompassing force that consumes everything in your life.

If you can afford Netflix and you desire something strongly enough, you can most likely achieve it sooner or later.