Stephen Covey in his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People gives a recipe for success. The three ingredients are desire, knowledge, and skills. He argues that desire is the WANT to, knowledge is the WHAT or WHY to, and skills are the HOW to.
Elder Oaks in his talk Desire given during the April 2011 General Conference explained that our eternal destiny is a function of desire and required to become an eternal being. Let’s examine three questions about desire.
- What is the application of desire?
- How do we see it operate in our lives?
- What is the essence of desire?
WHAT is the application of desire?
If you were addicted to a certain behavior, lets say always being right (which is an addiction), the first application of desire is to determine what you want out of a discussion. If you want satisfaction, then always being right doesn’t work. You must try different.
The awareness of where you are is paramount to where you are going. In this case, as is with all people who are addicted to always being right, your first level of awareness is to recognize you have a problem or a need for change.
If you don’t recognize what you are doing, you cannot properly apply your desire. Amulek addresses the initial stage of developing faith as a seed to be planted. Unless there is recognition that someone is lacking faith, the desire cannot be implemented.
HOW do we see it operate in our lives?
The desire must be strong enough to override the path of least resistance. When the pain of change is greater than the pain of addiction, the desire is not sufficiently strong to make a difference. You cannot arrive in Seattle if you never leave Gig Harbor. Too many people try to keep one foot in Gig Harbor with the other foot in Seattle.
Neil A. Maxwell said it best when he explained that many Saints try to live in Zion while keeping a vacation home in Babylon.
What is the ESSENCE of desire?
When moving from one habit to another, desire must be strong enough to give sufficient room to replace the bad habit with the good, better, or best level of that new habit. How many of us muddle through with good enough habits but lack sufficient desire to leave mediocrity and replace it with better or best?
An addiction to always being right can only be replaced using Covey’s recipe for success. Having a desire to change puts into motion the knowledge and skills ingredients.
- Desire: I am willing to take whatever action is necessary to bring about the change to eliminate the habit of always being right.
- Knowledge: I am willing to study and intensely learn all that is required about the new habit of seeking understanding. I will become very aware of others who have the same addiction as I do. Then I will become aware of the triggers that cause me the inappropriate behavior. Finally, I will
- Skills: develop new habits through constant practice so I can live my new habit with limited effort because I have developed my mental muscle memory (myelination) and my actions are rote.
Summary:
The essence of desire is having the ability to bring God in as your coach and teacher, allowing His Spirit to guide and direct your actions. Having an awareness of His Spirit is paramount to success. Desire is a muscle than can be developed into a power that will propel you into living a Celestial Law as a habit, and not a reminder.
Tony Robbins has shared that the word ‘desire’ means: “of the Father”. When you break the word in 2 it helps to see it: de – Sire
Interesting. Thx