Getting What You Want

If you can’t always get what you want, how do you get what you need? Step one is being able to tell the difference between a need and a want. Food is a need, and iPod is a want.

Right now I want a diet cola; a glass of water will quench my thirst, perhaps even better than the soda but I want a soda. In order to get that soda I must get up from my keyboard and walk to the kitchen, in other words I need to do something to get what I want. A glass of water requires a similar effort so in this case, the cost or effort I expend is basically the same.

The point is that to get what you want or need you must take an action. Satisfying both needs and wants demand that you do something. In other words, you and you alone, become responsible for meeting you wants. Needs differ, in that there can be a societal obligation to help people meet certiain needs, such as food, water and shelter.

How doe we satisfy both needs and want in our consumer economy? We do so by buying them in the marketplace.

Money is a must in our socio-economic system; try and meet needs and wants without it and see what happens. So if money is what you want then you will need a plan that gets it.

Plans work best when they are specific, for example, how much money do you want? Now temper the answer to this question with the answer to this one, how much money do you need?

I may want one million dollars but when I add up my expenses, and make a budget which includes a savings plan, I may find I actually need $55,000.00 per year. This is a more realistic figure one that does not require me to spend money that could be saved, on lottery tickets in the hope I will get lucky.

I believe in luck and I believe in gratitude; in fact I believe they go together quite well. I do not trust to luck, for example, I do not buy lottery tickets I prefer to set that money aside so I can buy an iPod or whatever else I want.

I do believe that I am lucky and I am indeed grateful. When I say I don’t buy lottery tickets, I mean state, provincial or national lottery tickets. I do buy draw tickets from community groups. In fact, I just won a trip to Orlando Florida from a regional hospital draw. I have always wanted to see Florida and escape part of the Canadian winter and come October I will do so.

Be specific about what it is you want the clearer your intent is the better. When you can state in a few words exactly what it is you want, you have taken the first step towards getting it.