Conscious Wants And Unconscious Wants
Brian Ford
Using personal development to fundraise for charity | Behavior Change & Life Systems Coach (20+ million podcast downloads) | Social Impact Leader (Founder of For Purpose Foundation)
Your life as it is right now is a perfect reflection of what you want. No matter the level of wealth, success, connection, or joy you live with, it is the result of you getting exactly what you want.
I understand how that might not sound believable because there are so many people living in circumstances they wouldn’t choose, tolerating life conditions that they don’t like, or are falling short of the level they know they’re capable of…
But again, we’re getting exactly what we want right now. And that’s because we’re not fully aware of what we want.
This is why I want to make a distinction between conscious wants and unconscious wants.?
A “conscious want” is something that you in your right mind see as something you’d like to have in your life. You could want to have a thriving business, lead an incredible initiative, have a deep connection with friends and family, or see the world. We express the vision of how our life could be as a conscious want.
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Then there are “unconscious wants”. These are the motivational forces that work behind the scenes to drive our choices and behaviors. These are the things that cause our lives to organize into the results that we’re currently getting, even if we tell ourselves we want something else. And that’s because embedded deep down in our psyche we actually want something more or different than what we think we want.
One of the great “unconscious wants” we all share is a desire to be safe and feel secure. Even though we tell ourselves we want to start that new business or live an adventurous life, our desire to be safe and secure overrides it. It causes us to be fearful, doubtful, and keeps us cozy in the familiarity of our comfort zone.
If we want to push the pedal down on the side of really pursuing our conscious wants, we?need to take our foot off the break and remove the unconscious wants that are holding us back.
We need to get introspective to understand the ways that fear and limitation are expressed in our life. And with that awareness we need to unpattern our behavior and redesign our beliefs.
If you’re not getting what you consciously want in life, this is why - you're not fully aware of what you unconsciously want. And when you shift one thing in one area it’ll cause your reality to shift as well.
I appreciate the emphasis on self-awareness and personal growth. It's reminiscent of LeBron James' approach to his career, where he continually assesses and adjusts to achieve his goals. How do you think this mindset can be applied to overcoming obstacles in sports and beyond?