What do you want? Have you been asked this before? If yes, did you immediately give a clear-cut, well-thought-out answer?
Oftentimes people are given the opportunity to say what they want but instead find themselves stuttering.
In business, you can lose a golden opportunity with a potential investor, partner, or client if you cannot clearly express what you want.
Windows of opportunity come without announcing their arrival. It is for the discerning to note and make the most of it.
A chance encounter can be a game-changer in your business or your life. But the game might not change in your favor if you cannot state what you want clearly.
Articulating your thoughts is much easier if you could have a simplified way of doing it anytime you want to bring clarity to your thought process.
We will look at a five-step process to streamline your thinking. The clarity in your thought process is critical to getting what you want.
Clarity can be achieved by addressing each of these five questions systematically by working through numbers one to five.
1. What do you want?
This question requires you to engage your mind with intention.
Whether in business, health, relationship, and/or any other area of life where you want to realize your desires, you must engage your mind with deliberate intent.
No clutter and no distractions. Bring peace to your mind through rest and focused thinking. Your focus must be razor-sharp. Separate every irrelevant thought in your head from your area of interest.
Only entertain the line of thought that brings illumination to your desire. Then clearly think about what you “really” want without reservations.
You may over-rationalize your desires and end up talking yourself out of pursuing what you truly desire. To avoid this, create a clear pictorial image of what you want. Put descriptive words to it till it resonates with you. 
In other words – Dream it so you can plan it and do it. Clarifying your wants also highlights for you the human and financial resources you can attract to achieve your desire.
Research thoroughly what concerns what you want. Is it in the public space? Are people doing it? If not, why?
Getting this information helps you abolish limiting beliefs that might make you feel what you want is out of reach. My mantra is that anything is possible under the sun if you believe.
This might sound ambitious but it helps me calm down, and carefully scrutinize available options and the possibility of creating a new path.
Another important question is, “Why do YOU want it?” What will it mean to you and how far will you go to get it. Getting what you want requires commitment.
No one will do it for you if you don’t rise to it. So, be very precise about what you want. No fluff.
2. Why do you want it?
Your “Why” is important in this equation. It is the reason why you want what you want. Your “why” is what will sponsor your persistence.
Getting what you want is a pursuit. If you encounter obstacles, the reason you want it will cause you to push through.
This singular reason is the driving force that causes you to get up each morning in pursuit of what you want. It fuels your desire. It tests your resolve and the intrinsic worth of what you pursue.
Your “why” tells you if what you are pursuing is worth it or not.
It helps to reveal the true motive of your heart. It exposes what you want to yourself, whether it is to satisfy self-serving desires or it is valuable in the service of both self and others.
Knowing your “why” also helps you determine the timeline for accomplishing what you want.
3. When do you want it?
You should put a timeline for getting what you want. To avoid procrastination it is important to set goals.
S.M.A.R.T. goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound will keep you focused. You need to know what you’re aiming at and when you want to get it.
Business owners have stressed the importance of setting goals as a tracker to constantly monitor and evaluate your progress in getting what you want.
Goals also remind you of what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and where.
4. Where do you want it?
It is important to clearly state the geographical or situational location of what you want. This is a pointer to positioning.
Are you positioned to receive what you want? If not what steps do you need to take to receive your desire?
Your positioning could either be geographical meaning where you need to be located for what you want to come to pass.
For instance, you might want international job experience. For such to happen you would have to decide which country you want to work in, what job you want to do, and what is currently obtainable there.
This means getting a job is not the complete picture of what you want but getting that job in your preferred overseas location.
Positioning could also be situational meaning when a particular set of conditions favor what you want. For example, you might want to start a business after you get married. that is situational and needs to happen before the business can startup.
This means that any business opportunity you encounter while single will not be appealing to you until the conditions are right.
Positioning could also be a mental or emotional state of being, whereby you want to be in a particular frame of mind to receive what you desire.
So, you need to drill down your wants and explore the conditions you will consider favorable to your particular situation in addition to all the elements already discussed above.
5. How do you get it?
You have at this point identified all the different components of what you want. It is now time to create a plan of action.
The information you got from answering the questions above has provided a road map for getting what you want and driving your plan of action.
Your plan will detail your vision, as identified above in answering question one. The plan will also spell out the objectives of the plan of action as provided in your response to question two.
Your plan of action will highlight the tasks required based on your goals, timing, and positioning already provided above.
Each task will be broken down starting from the main task to its smaller components parts. From there you can draw up daily, weekly, monthly and even yearly To-Do lists to guide your actions till your wants are achieved.
Having these little steps spelled out will streamline your actions and keep them focused on what matters for the achievement of your identified goals.
This ensures you are not distracted from core actions that will cause you to succeed.
In conclusion
After you have identified what you want, why you want it, and when and where you want it, the next step is to plan how to get it. Once you have your plan of action – ACT. Do not procrastinate.
Take immediate action to actualize your desire. Check out my post on 5 Top Reasons To Start An Online Business