Wanting something intensely enough is claimed to be the origin of achieving it.
Hill placed desire first among his principles and illustrated it with people who burned their bridges. The examples are chosen after the fact from those who succeeded, so the intensity of the wanting is confounded with everything else about them. What the research supports is commitment as a moderator, which is a much weaker and better-evidenced claim.
In practice
- A founder who wanted it badly and failed is not in the book, and there are more of him.
- Two candidates equally determined get different outcomes, and the determination explains neither.
- Possible explanations
- The explanation offered is that intensity of wanting produces the persistence that achievement requires. The researched version is narrower: goal commitment moderates how well specific, difficult goals improve performance.
- In its favour
- Motivation research does support the narrower claim that commitment to a goal predicts effort and persistence.
- Against it
- The examples are chosen after the fact from people who succeeded, so the same intensity in those who failed is invisible, and burning one's bridges raises the cost of a correct change of course.
- Standing
- Testimonial evidence selected on success, with no comparison group. Motivation research supports the narrower claim that goal commitment moderates the effect of goals, and does not support intensity of wanting as a cause of outcomes.
- Subject
- Creativity & Work
- Essay
- The success literature and its sceptics