How to Get What You Want
When I was in my twenties, I read an old book, already long-out-of-print, with the intriguing title, How To Get What You Want. I followed the advice.
The simple ten-minute-a-day strategy that the author presented was scary, not only because it worked but because I also discovered some surprising things about myself. I’ll tell you about them in a minute.
My favourite college professor used to say, “Look where you are going because you will go where you are looking.” Exactly!
God Himself said, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23
Before I introduce you to this highly effective, biblically sound strategy, I must warn you. It works, even in a spiritual, moral or ethical vacuum or for people who look for criminal results. First, ask God’s Spirit to guide you, read a passage from the Bible, and only then begin to follow these directions.
The How Two
On the first page of a simple spiral-bound notebook with lined paper, write down at least five, but no more than ten, things you really want. They can be in any area of your life: Material, Relationships, Health, Wealth, Employment, Hobbies, Ministry, etc.
- Mark the items in order of priority; the one you want the most with a (1), the next with a (2), and so on. Read the list as a prayer, preferably aloud, since the movement of your tongue and the sound in your ears will drive these items deeper into your heart and mind. Close the notebook and go on your way.
- The next day, after Bible reading and prayer, open your notebook, study your list, and clarify, or refine some item, if you need to, or add another item to the list, but no more than ten total. Then copy by hand your list of ten things, in order of priority, on page two. Pray through your list, close the notebook, and go on your way.
- Resist the urge to do this project digitally. Instead, keep doing this by hand. The act of writing out your desires relatively slowly by hand every day drives you to think more deeply about them. Remember, “Guard your heart.”
- By the third day, you may have filled your list up to ten items and may have thought of an eleventh thing you want. Add it to the list but delete another item to keep your list down to ten. Then rewrite your list, in order of priority, on page three.
- Simply take ten minutes every day to keep doing this, page after page, notebook after notebook, and be prepared, as I was, to be amazed and thankful.
Further Encouragement
If you’re like me, it won’t take more than a few weeks for at least half the things on the first day’s list to be replaced by other, more important things you especially want. So yes, I surprised myself when I realized I didn’t know what I really wanted on that first day!
You will be deleting and replacing several items during the second or third month, not because they were unimportant, but because you got them. This strategy works! That makes it satisfying and encouraging, but also a bit scary.
Think deeply about what you put on that daily list. It will influence you mentally and emotionally and shape your life, family, relationships, work, bank account, and ministry.
I have practiced this exercise in one form or another for over half a century. Now that I am approaching my mid-eighties, the top things on my list are my relationships with God, my wife, my family and continued good health. I also want to write and publish my ninth and tenth book of God-honouring true stories of my life, focused on our life-long ministry of Bible translation.
Simple But Effective
Psalm 139:14 states that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” referring not just to our physical bodies and minds but also to our hearts, the centre of our emotions. Just as we need to care for our bodies and minds, and use them to bring God glory, so also we each need to “guard our heart, for everything we do flows from it.” This simple system will help us to do just that.