What Do You Truly Desire to Do or Achieve in Life?

Dear friend,

Question:

What is it you truly desire in life?

What is your ‘causa finalis’?

There is this notion in Latin called ‘causa finalis’– the notion of a “final cause” (or your end-game).

This is what I realized about lifestyle:

Lifestyle is a MEANS or a BRIDGE in order to do something else we truly desire to do.

What is your end-game?

For example, ‘location independence‘, living like a ‘digital nomad‘, being ‘financially independent‘ aren’t ends in themselves. These are all just a MEANS in order to achieve or do something we truly want to do.

This means, do the thought experiment:

What if you had $1 trillion dollars in the bank, no obligations, all the newest Apple devices, tools, toys, etc — then what would you do with your time and life? What would you desire to do, create, or make?

True desires

I cannot speak for you, but my true desires are active– to DO something. For example:

I desire to think more, come up with more epic ideas, and to blog and share these ideas with others.
I desire to have energy, power, and vigor so I can pursue this ideal with 100% of my efforts without feeling exhaustion.
I desire to make an impact in the world: To empower others. To create turbo thoughts that can inspire, motivate, or encourage other people.
I desire to make more artwork (photos, writings, poetry, videos, etc).

You determine your own true values

The great thing in life is this:

Only you can determine your own true values in life. You cannot let anyone else determine your true desires or values in life.

Once you determine what your true desires and values are in life, then you can work backwards (start from the end-game, and work backwards), in order to discover the MEANS to achieve your desires!

Desires are action

Another thought:

When it comes to ‘desires’; it isn’t just stuff we desire to buy or purchase.

Desires are things we DESIRE TO DO! Desire is active; it is a verb.

So as a general idea:

Disregard the things you desire to purchase, procure, or obtain in life. These things we desire to obtain won’t make a meaningful impact on our own personal happiness.

Independent desires

To me, an ‘independent desire’ is something you can achieve or do WITHOUT the dependence on other human beings.

For example, one of my desires is to deadlift 500 pounds. I am not dependent on others to achieve my goal. I am 100% dependent on myself — my personal effort, how often I practice/train, and the risks I am taking to push my personal limits.

However let me say my desire was to put $1 trillion dollars in the bank. Theoretically it is possible, but if I wanted to put $1 trillion dollars in the bank, I would be dependent on other human beings to give me the money. Thus, I am dependent on others.

Independent photography

This is what I love about photography:

You aren’t dependent on others to make photos.

However what are we dependent on? If you desire to get a bunch of likes and followers, then you are dependent on the approval of others.

Therefore it seems the logical conclusion is this:

Focus on making photos to please yourself; don’t seek to make photos to impress others.

And this is our rule: If you like the photo, then it is a good photo!

Conclusion

Some basic ideas:

Don’t think of desires as material desires or possessions. Desire to act more, do more, create more, and become more!
You must determine your own personal desires for yourself. Never let others determine this for you.
Extract the maximum from every moment of your day: Never delay your personal happiness. Focus on extracting the maximum from every single moment of the day. Use your own personal willpower to be clever and figure out: “How can I best effectively leverage this moment of the day towards my own personal needs and desires?”