I had developed a desire-management formula. I have been implementing it for more than a couple of years now. The reason for sharing?

It has proved to be very effective.

Now that I have fully committed myself to a life as a writer, there are a few elements which I think are essential to such a lifestyle.

This desire management is simply an allocation of those elements to the wants and needs embedded in almost all of us.

I had been very random and all-over-the-place with my thoughts, desires, time, work and life management. This particular formula has helped me get a little bit more organized. It may be of help for others as well, irrespective of the profession.

I hereby publicize this formula as The ABCD formula as it contains the (fundamentals) ABCDs of my existence and life.

The ABCD

ABCD = A, B, C and D desires. All four are distinct sets of various sub-desires. Those which are common with each other are organized in the same set. This way, each set is a whole desire or as I like to call it — the wills. Each will is named according to the most generic term that applies to all sub-desires.

Let’s dive into the desire management formula.

A

It stands for Ability.

Ability is the state of being able to do something. It is about skill, talent and capability. It is the absolute means, the foundation without which none of my other wills or sub-desires can be fulfilled.

My desires in terms of the abilities I want/need are as follows:

• Ability to Think
• Ability to Learn and Understand
• Ability to pursue freedom
• Ability to love
• Ability to experience
• Ability to enjoy
• Ability for aesthetics
• Ability to earn and survive
• Ability to be strong
• Ability of Wisdom

Thinking, learning, freedom, love, enjoyment, aesthetics, earning and surviving are my sub-desires. All these are grouped in the ‘A’ set.

With the A set, my purpose is — to remind myself that in order to look far, I need a good telescope.

It’s all about maintaining, polishing, updating and upgrading my abilities to do things. It’s about sharpening the tool, so to speak. It’s about the tool. It’s about the lenses and the vehicles.

B

It stands for Being.

Being is about existing in a certain way with certain values and ideals. It is about personal ethics and feelings. It incorporates everything I am, want-to-be and will-to-be as a free-being, human-being, son, father, etc. etc.

My desires in terms of the being are as follows:

• Greedlessness
• Non-Petty
• Love
• Good life
• Freedom
• Strength
• Free thinking
• Life and World Experiences (including Travels)
• Aesthetics
• Joy

I want to be as greedless as possible. At the same time I want to ensure I am not petty. I want love, freedom, strength, free-thinking, experiences, travels, aesthetics and joys in life. All these are grouped into the ‘B’ set.

With the B set, my purpose is — to remind myself of things that really make me who I am. My real purpose in life. My being. My essence.

It’s all about being who I am with this. I have settled on these sub-desires after years of hard work. My work with the B set is to ensure I don’t ‘sell-out’ (Whatever that may mean!)

C

It stands for Seeing. But is written C. Hence, C is an apt alphabet. Plus, it makes it easier as it perfectly fits well into the ABCD system which makes it easier for me to remember whatever I am trying to. I hereby use the term C-ing for seeing.

C-ing is about learning, knowing and understanding various subjects and elements of my life and of this existence of ours.

I had earlier mentioned about my life as a writer. My desire to — learn throughout my life was one of the things responsible for this choice. Now, it is also a necessity to sustain that choice. If I want to continue being a writer, I have to try to learn all the things all the time.

All the subjects I find interesting, relevant and important are covered under the C will or the C set which contains 3 distinct subsets.

My desires in terms of the knowledges of things I want/need are organized as follows:

• HG-HE-STEP
• sPa
• POLE™

All three are acronyms.

HG-HE-STEP includes knowledge of things that are somewhat social or humanitarian in nature.

H: History

G: Geography

H: Humanity

E: Experiences (of People)

S: Society

T: Technology

E: Economics

P: Politics

sPa includes knowledges of and via three tools of knowledge acquisition:

S: Science

P: Philosophy

A: Arts

This sub-set includes looking at the previous subset through all three lenses (for instance, looking at technology from a scientific lens as well as from a philosophical one) along with studying the fields themselves and their interconnections.

For example, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Arts, Art of Science, Scientific Art, etc. etc.

POLE™ is all about my subjective, intuitive understanding and conclusions of everything possible.

P: Perceptions

O: Opinions

L: Life-Lessons

E: Experiences

™: Thought Management

Alternatively, I also use: EEEGSSTTPP

which stands for: Existential, Experiential, Economic, Geographic, Scientific, Social, Technological, Temporal, Political and Philosophical knowledge.

But it is difficult to memorize. C-subsets are much more convenient.

With the C set, my purpose is — to remind myself of things I want to and have to learn.

It’s all about organizing, balancing, selecting and choosing the subjects to learn.

D

It stands for Doing.

Doing is all about the actions I need to take and the things I need to do to fulfill the desires of ABC. This is through which I get things done. It’s about setting and implementing goals, objectives, strategies and tactics.

At the point of this writing, my D is threefold:

1. Write
2. Publish
3. Enterprise

I got to write, publish and be active in various activities apart from those two. This part is subject to much change and adaptations.

With the D set, my purpose is — to remind myself and ensure I successfully do what I need to do.

Conclusion

You may have noticed how they are all interconnected. I think this is the beauty of this desire management formula (for me obviously!).