"I've learned that the resources we need to turn our dreams into reality are within us, merely waiting for the day when we decide to wake up and claim our birthright." - Tony Robbins

Sometimes, a single remark will change our entire life. I was with a very successful friend and during our conversation he casually said, "If you're not financially secure in less than ten years, it's because you're lazy, stupid or both." The rest of our meeting is lost in a blur but those words really stuck home.

They were disturbing words and that is due to the fact that they contain more than a grain of truth. What does not concern us does not disturb us. It's when a hidden fact is exposed that it stings and that we tend to get defensive.

My friend was right. Anyone who wants anything badly enough can get it. The operative words here are, "Want-badly-enough." In his book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill explains the meaning of what it is to want something "badly enough." He called it, a burning desire.

A burning desire is not a wish. It's not a dream. It's an unstoppable, undeniable and all consuming desire. It borders on obsession except that it's not pathologic and that it is self-induced. Whether it's a healthy desire or not could be argued. But one thing is certain; it works.

With a burning desire the entire person's focus is on a single objective. It's like a laser beam that can cut through the hardest metal. It's like a rushing river that nothing can stop. It will accept no excuse and will not stop for anything. The only thing that matters is completion.

That is the kind of desire that inspired Arnold Schwarzenegger to push his body to its extreme limits for years. That's the kind of desire that allowed Lance Armstrong to become the king of the Tour de France even after he was diagnosed with brain and testicular cancer.

It's the kind of desire that made it possible for Tony Robbins to write his best seller, Unlimited Power, in only 29 days. And that was done on top of a very heavy seminar schedule plus the formidable task of running a dozen of personally owned business.

That's also the kind of desire that keep star athletes on top of their game, billionaires at their desk twenty hours a day and people like Celine Dion performing night after nights in front of huge crowds all over the world.

These people know what a burning desire means. They are living examples of what it can do. They are not super-humans. They are ordinary people animated by an extraordinary desire also called a burning desire.

A burning desire may not be for everyone but it is available to anyone. With it, seriously handicapped people have achieved extraordinary feats. People like Ray Kroc, founder of the McDonald Empire, started using it past the age of 50. The stories of people with every conceivable history and backgrounds who achieved amazing success with it are legions.

The key that will unlock any door is a burning desire to achieve a specific goal. It is something that is readily available to anyone anytime. No special preparations are necessary. It is simply a question of desire and resolve.

All that to paraphrase Napoleon Hill who said it best when he wrote, "There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it."

Dr. Raymond Comeau aka Shamou is the Author of ShamouBlog and Owner Administrator of Personal Development for Personal Success http://www.shamoublog.com/forum/index.php Forums.