Earlier today I came across this quote from Rudyard Kipling:
“If you don’t get what you want, it’s a sign either that you did not seriously want it, or that you tried to bargain over the price.”
It’s pretty adept at getting to the point of the matter isn’t it? How many times have you failed to get what you want because you just didn’t want it enough or because you balked at the price you would have to pay for it in either monetary or time commitment terms?
If we truly want something enough, we will go that extra mile to find a way to get it, whether that means somehow earning the extra money required or re-jigging our schedule so that we can fit in the time commitment we need to invest in it.
The point of this quote, comes back to having a deep enough reason ‘why’ you want something. When your ‘why’ drives what you want, you will do what it takes, when your ‘why’ is not strong enough to drive your want, you won’t get it – so simple it seems stupid huh?
Next time you are sitting there feeling sorry about not getting something that you ‘want’, take a couple of minutes to analyse that situation a bit more so you can figure out why you couldn’t have it:
Was it because you couldn’t afford it?
Was it because you liked the idea at the time then got side-tracked by something else before you hit that buy button?
Was it because you liked it but not enough to pay the asking price?
Now ask yourself how much you really wanted whatever it was that you didn’t get?
You see if you really, really wanted that thing, if wanting it tapped into your driving force, you would have found a way to get it. Instead of talking yourself out of it for whatever reason, you would have been talking yourself through ways of overcoming any obstacles to getting it.
So what I’m trying to say here is:
Don’t waste time regretting what you didn’t get – use that time constructively – spend a few minutes analysing precisely why you talked yourself out of getting it, then let it go. This will give you more time to work on those strategies to help you get the things that you really do want!
Don’t sweat the small stuff and don’t waste time haggling the price of something that you do want – if you can’t afford it right now, spend that time working out ways to help you to afford it as soon as possible. If you can afford it and you want it enough, don’t let the opportunity to fulfil yourself slip by – but by the same token, if you are balking at the price of somethingthat you can afford, do a quick re-check because it probably means that deep down, that want is not driven by your ‘why’ – face up to that and again, let it go…
