How will you get what you want?

Too many people pursue what they want through behavior they have every reason to believe cannot provide it.¹ It’s important to differentiate between desires and wishes. The difference is found in your actions. You can wish for something without doing what you believe necessary to get it, but you can’t really desire a thing without actually working for it to the best of your knowledge. For example, it is easy to say that you want to go to heaven, but very few people live like they want to go to heaven, as evidenced by how few people follow the example of Jesus Christ.²

Wishes without an intent to act require the severing of the link between cause and effect. You will never experience anything that doesn’t have a cause, and you will never permanently obtain anything for which the price has not been paid. Fulfillment of desires requires finding the set of causes that produce the desired effect.

How will you obtain what you want? If you do not have and live a plan toward getting it, you don’t really want it—you just wish you had it. The more valuable what you desire, the more likely a careful and correct plan will be required in order to obtain it.