One day, while walking along, you find an old Arabian lamp. It’s scuffed and dented, but you figure you don’t have much to lose by rubbing it, so you give it a shot. Out comes a shabby genie who explains that while he can grant wishes, that as the discount version of the legend we all know, he can only give you one. What would you ask for?
After you tell the discount genie your wish, he gets into the fine print. He explains that he doesn’t have the kind of budget those deluxe genies have. They can afford to give everyone whatever they ask for, but only if they limit their requests to what they really want. It turns out that different things are worth differing amounts to different people, and very few people really want what they say they want. In order for him to grant your wish, you have to convince him that you want what you are asking for enough to justify its cost. Do you think you could convince him?
In reality, outcomes of tremendous value are available in life, and all of them have a certain price. While the budget genie is not real, the opportunity to have what you are willing to pay for is.
You can have anything you are willing to pay the price for. Part of that price is finding out what it takes to obtain it; the other is doing just that.
When you explicitly define what you want and how you expect to receive it, your achievements will reach further toward your potential than ever before. You will more consistently do what is needed on a daily basis to bring about the outcomes you say you desire.
In order to obtain what you want in life, you’ll have to learn how to do so and and be willing to do what is necessary to get it. Part of what is necessary will be to prioritize what you want among competing options, because your resources are limited and the things of greatest worth tend to demand a great many of them. You can’t prioritize what is of greatest worth if you do not yet know what you want.