We describe the things that we want, the way we want to feel, things we want to achieve, things we want to become, in terms of some future state. We say, “I want to be a professional writer”, or “I want to be a professional photographer”, or “I want to feel better”, or “I want to be healthy”, etc. That describes some future state that we want at the present moment. There’s more to being something that wanting it, we need to put in the work to achieve that future state. We need to be “verbing” in order to be the noun.

You don’t typically hear, “I want to fail, over and over again, so that I can master the craft that I’m interested in pursuing to become successful at it.” You don’t typically hear “I want to put in all the hours and work to become rich.” You just hear, “I want to be rich.” There’s a canyon between where we are and where we want to be, and we have to be willing to navigate that canyon, messy middle and all.

We can rarely will ourselves into a future desired state, we have to put in the work to achieve that state. When we say we want something, we’re really saying that we’re willing to commit to the work that goes into getting to that thing.

If you want to be a photographer, then commit to being a photographer. Not wanting to be a photographer. Being a photographer means taking endless bad photos and continuing to learn from them so that you can continue to take better ones. Being a musician means messing up hundreds of thousands of times while you continue to learn to master your art. Being something is more than just wishing, or even merely doing it. It’s committing to the personal growth, depth, and character that comes from pursuing your goals.

This doesn’t only apply to personal goals, but general life as well. If you’re sick, you just can’t make yourself get better. If you’re depressed, you can’t just make yourself feel better. If you’re out of a job, you can’t just make yourself find a job. Unfortunately, there’s not an “I’m here, and I want to be there” approach that works. We still have to put in the work.

Being clinically depressed is not something that we can say, “well, get to work then, and feel better”, but there are steps that we can take. We can reach out, ask for help, or find a friend that will check in on us from time to time to make sure we’re doing okay. Maybe exercise helps, maybe seeing a doctor who can prescribe the right medication will help, maybe seeing a qualified psychologist or psychiatrist will help. Those decisions and actions are still up each of us to take, even if we have to ask for help to make them happen.

Regardless of what we want, we have to be willing to commit to the work and be willing to commit to the steps. More importantly, we need to commit to growth and change in order to get to that place. We have to have a posture of action. Otherwise, we’re only wishing and dreaming, which has it’s place, but not when you’re trying to get somewhere.

The MAKE ROOM Planner and Journal allows you to set your goals, journal your thoughts to help you gain insight, and make your daily plan to live your life with purpose and in alignment with your principles and goals, all in one place. It has helped others, it can help you too.