From Everyday Enlightenment by Dan Millman:

“In this world, persisting toward a goal requires either a want or a will.

“When you want something—when you act out of desire—you depend upon feelings of motivation, interest, or excitement to carry you past problems to your goal. You don’t need will.

“When you will something—when you act out of duty, commitment, loyalty, or integrity—you depend only upon your power to act. You don’t need motivation. You persist because it is the right thing to do, or because of the consequences of not doing it, or simply because it needs doing. You call upon the sleeping giant within you—the power of your will.

“Motivation is a welcome wind at your back. But winds are changeable and fickle. Motivation comes and goes.

“Will is a faithful friend at your side in both the sunlit days and dark nights of the soul, speaking quietly of what is important and good. You can depend upon your will because it comes from within you.

“So sail the winds of motivation when they blow, but in the calms and dry spells, rely on your will to carry you through.”

Bravo, Dan, well said! Motivation and will—what a powerful combination! When we marry desire and duty, we become unstoppable. Now, desire is an appealing word, isn’t it? As Dan said, it’s about what we want, what we’re passionate about. Duty, on the other hand, sounds a bit dry, it’s about committing to something no matter what.

But as Dan says so well, sometimes our passion flags—sometimes we can’t sustain it. And when that happens if our will takes over—if we strive forward based on will power, then we can get through those dry spells when our passion seems to have deserted us. Often, just through sheer will power, we can re-ignite our desire, our want power.

So let’s use every tool in our writer’s kitbag! Let’s use want power and will power to get where we want to go. Let’s be unstoppable, as we all write on!

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