Do you have great aspirations, friend?

I sincerely hope you do. Because today, I will share the secret to achieving them.

I should not call it a secret, though, because all “secrets” hide in plain sight and are actually called “Truths”.

T he legendary Masutatsu Oyama, founder of Kyokushin Karate, certainly had great aspirations. He had to have them in order to train in seclusion in the mountains, training his body and spirit.

With nothing but his karate gi, basic cooking supplies, and a copy of Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings, he spent 14 months training in isolation on Mt. Minobu.

Why did he do this? Simple: He knew this Truth and he lived it.

Do you know what he did next?

He came down from Mt. Minobu and won the Japanese Nation Martial Arts Championship.

How was he able to do this? Simple: He knew this Truth and he lived it.

Do you know what he did next?

He returned to the mountains, this time to Mt. Kiyosumi, and trained even harder for another 18 months. And why, friend, do you think he did this?

That’s right – because he had to. Because the Truth hidden in plain sight, the “secret” to achieving your greatest aspirations, demanded it.

And what is this Truth?

OBSESSION

That’s right, friend. OBSESSION is the Truth.

The True answer to the question, “How do I achieve my greatest aspirations?”, has always been and will always be OBSESSION.

If OBSESSION is not required, not demanded, then you do not aspire greatly. You set for yourself earthly goals, and in doing so you set yourself up for failure. And why is that?

Because one can not rise above when his eyes are focused firmly on the ground.

But what, exactly, is Obsession?

Obsession defined is “the state of being obsessed with someone or something”. With “an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind.”

The word Obsession comes from the Latin obsidere which comes from the Latin obsessus. Obsessus meant “watch closely; besiege, occupy; stay, remain, abide”.

To be Obsessed is to actively make war upon the thing that preoccupies the mind. But that’s not all.

In the 16th Century, Obsession also meant “to be haunted” as if by a Spirit. Like possession, except the Spirit does not inhabit the body.

Not yet, anyway.

Obsession becomes Possession when you put Passion into Action.

Maybe you’ve heard the saying, “Follow your passion and the money will follow”. This is not quite backward, but it is very misleading.

The word Passion means “strong and barely controllable emotion.” People with Passion do not need to be told that their Passion is strong, nor that it is an emotion.

What they must realize is that it is controllable, even if it is barely so. This leads to one of two outcomes.

“Follow” your Passion. Become your Passion.

Following your Passion is passive. Following is weak. In meekly following your Passion, it is your master and you are its slave.

This is what most people with Passion do, and it is why they do not achieve their aspirations.

Becoming your Passion is active. Becoming is strong. In actively Becoming your Passion, you consume it and it empowers you.

You take the Essence of your Passion, the object of your Obsession, into yourself.

You give yourself wholly to that thing. In doing so, you Become that thing.

Possession Fuels the Path to Mastery

Masutatsu Oyama also said “One becomes a beginner after one thousand days of training, an expert after ten thousand days of practice.”

One Thousand Days is nearly 3 years. Ten Thousand Days is a little over 27 years, nearly three decades of uninterrupted practice.

That’s a long time. It won’t feel like it, though.

The Power of Possession, in becoming one with your Obsession, is in making that 27 years feel like 27 minutes. And besides…

If 27 years is the price one pays to live forever, it sounds like one hell of a deal to me.

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