A wish is like a Disney movie. Oh, I wish to become a princess. A desire is a war movie. Rambo. That's what comes to mind when I think about desire — somebody who has already decided, and is now just going through with it.
There's something out there you've wanted for years. It's the thing you bring up after a few drinks. It's the thing you think about at night before you fall asleep. It's prominent in your life — just never prominent enough to actually happen.
The story you tell yourself is that you have a discipline problem. Or that you're not ready yet. Or that you're not at the level you should be at.
I think you're wrong. There is something you need to change, but it's a lot simpler than you think.
You don't have a desire. You have a wish. And those are two completely different things.
Wishes Are Not Harmless
A wish is something you think about. Something you hope you can get. Something that isn't ready for you yet. A desire is something burning inside you that you almost already have.
People put those two on the same shelf. They're not on the same shelf.
And here's the part nobody says out loud: wishes actually aren't good for you. When you wish for something, you picture yourself having it — I could have that, I could be that person — and you get a little hit of dopamine off the picture. Then you don't act. You put the phone back in your hand and scroll another twenty minutes of Reels.
You got paid for doing nothing. That's the problem. The wish satisfied the exact craving that was supposed to make you move.
A Desire Is an Evolved Wish
If you were a Pokémon kid like me, you know Pikachu doesn't stay Pikachu. He evolves into Raichu. Same creature, different level.
That's the relationship here. A desire is an evolved wish. So if you have wishes, good — that's the raw material. Just stop leaving them as wishes.
When I was younger, wishes came and went constantly. I had a wish to get stronger. A wish to be more social. A wish for more status. Nothing happened with any of them until I started converting them. That's when I started seeing physical proof.
Three things do the converting: a deadline, a plan, and a price.
1. A Deadline
Wishes don't have deadlines. That's exactly why they come and go so easily. You think of something, it sounds cool, and then… when? When is it happening?
A desire has a date on it. Down to the day. You want a new body — by when? If you can't answer that, you don't have a desire yet.
Mine, back in high school, was vague: be big by the end of high school. That was still enough to move me. But it was loose, and I know now that if I'd made it specific I would have gotten a lot further, a lot faster.
2. A Plan
This is where people tap out, and they shouldn't, because the plan matters less than you think.
Desires don't need in-depth plans. The plan is going to fluctuate no matter what. Nobody has ever built a plan that survives contact with real life to the letter. Good things happen, bad things happen, some weeks you're twice as efficient and some weeks you're half. That's life.
You need a rough plan. That's it.
When I hear people say "I don't know how to plan, what if this happens, what about that" — that's fear dressed up as logistics. My plan in high school was two words: gym every day. That was the whole thing. Then it turned into a bro split. Arms Monday, legs Tuesday, back Wednesday.
And it worked, because when I woke up on a Thursday and asked myself what I felt like doing, the answer wasn't up for debate. The plan said shoulders. So I did shoulders.
That's the actual job of a plan. Not to predict the future — to take the decision away from you on the days you don't feel like it.
3. A Price
Anytime you want something new in your life, you have to sacrifice something else. Everything in this life comes at a cost.
You want to be fit? There goes the junk food. You want to be successful? There go the video games.
A lot of people want everything. They want to be successful and play six hours of games a day. They want to be lean and keep the zebra cakes in the cabinet. It doesn't work that way, and honestly, once you fully accept that, things get much easier — because now you're just picking, instead of negotiating with yourself every day.
Wishes have no price. I can wish to be in incredible shape and give up absolutely nothing. It's free. That's what makes it a wish.
Usually the price is comfort. Most people are deeply familiar with comfort and pretty okay with it.
I'm not exempt here — I make these videos as much for me as for you, because I'm in the middle of this myself. I lived in New Hampshire my whole life and I just moved to North Carolina. That move was the price. I was too comfortable in my hometown: same routine, same people, same habits. I physically could not evolve the wish into a desire while everything around me stayed identical.
Now I'm somewhere new and I don't know anybody. The old habits aren't even available to me. That's what paying the price buys you.
Don't Run This on Every Wish
Here's the important part. You have thousands of wishes. I do too. If you tried to apply all three of these to every wish that crossed your mind, you'd be buried by Wednesday.
So use them as a filter instead. Take the wish and ask, in order:
Am I willing to put a real deadline on this? If no — it's a wish. Let it go, guilt-free.
Am I willing to build a rough plan and follow it on the days I don't want to? If no — same answer.
Am I willing to pay the price? Say you want to be an artist. Are you willing to trade hanging out with friends for time at the easel? If yes to all three: that's a desire. Go.
If it's a no anywhere in that chain, retreat. That's not failure — that's information. If you're not willing to do all three, it genuinely isn't for you right now, and that's fine. You'll learn which ones are worth it through trial and error, through reps.
One thing you'll notice fast: most of your desires point at the same few outcomes. I want to be jacked. Why? Status, money, freedom. I want to be an artist. Why? Status, money, freedom. That's just human nature. The outcome isn't what separates people. The price is.
Try This Tonight
You know the wish I'm talking about. It shows up when you're mid-task and your mind wanders. It shows up right before you fall asleep. It's been showing up for years and you've never done anything with it.
Next time it comes up, write it down. Then run it:
Deadline — when do you want it by?
Plan — what's the rough draft of what you'll do?
Price — what are you giving up to get it?
Everything after that is just consistency. That's it. That's the whole thing.
This stuff is far simpler than your brain wants you to believe. Your brain's job is to keep you safe, so it tells you it'll be hard, that you'll be embarrassed, that there are ten variables you haven't considered. There aren't. There's a deadline, a plan, and a price.
Get better, together.