Want less, will more

Everywhere I go, I hear people talking about what they want.

I want a new job that fulfills me. I want to write a best-selling book. I want to meet the love of my life. I want to start my own business. I want to travel the world. I want to get in better shape. I want to release my first album. I want… I want… I want…

But what WILL you do?

Last week I was in a live/work experimental incubator in Alamo Square, meeting the co-founders and learning about what they’re up to. When I walked into the house, I was immediately asked to write an “I will” statement on their walls in chalk.

This exercise got me thinking.

Wants are fleeting desires. They’re inactionable and indecisive.

Wills, on the other hand, are intentional decisions. They’re filtered and committed.

“I want a new job that fulfills me” is much less deliberate than “I will inspire and enable millions to boldly unleash their full potential through my work by May 2013.”

By making a small shift in the way we talk to ourselves, the intention changes, our energy shifts, and the focus becomes making it happen.

In a world of infinite wants, our challenge is to filter and choose the few wills that are worth pursuing. So every time you catch yourself saying “I want…” I encourage you to filter it through how much you actually want it and whether or not you will commit.

Want less, will more.

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Thanks to Farhad and Matty for inspiring this post, and Bear for reading the draft.