November 20, 2025 • 8 mins
“What do you want in the next 30 seconds?”
Clarity isn’t something you magically have.
It’s a skill, and the way you build that skill is by getting good at knowing what you want at the smallest possible level.
This episode breaks down:
• The difference between desire and craving
• Why clarity is a skillset, not a feeling
• How to stop wanting “big vague things” and start wanting things you can actually act on
• How small desires turn into big outcomes
• Why your impulses aren’t the enemy but your lack of discernment is
Follow me on my socials:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshterryplays
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshterryplays/
X: https://x.com/joshterryplays
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@UCOLdtkK1XqV6ikuHUqfetnQ
To work with Josh Terry go to https://apply.joshterryplays.com
Clarity isn’t something you magically have.
It’s a skill, and the way you build that skill is by getting good at knowing what you want at the smallest possible level.
This episode breaks down:
• The difference between desire and craving
• Why clarity is a skillset, not a feeling
• How to stop wanting “big vague things” and start wanting things you can actually act on
• How small desires turn into big outcomes
• Why your impulses aren’t the enemy but your lack of discernment is
Follow me on my socials:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshterryplays
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshterryplays/
X: https://x.com/joshterryplays
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@UCOLdtkK1XqV6ikuHUqfetnQ
To work with Josh Terry go to https://apply.joshterryplays.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
When you have a big, overarching desire like I want
to be more confident, I want to lose weight, I
want to build a business, I want to get in
a relationship. These things are so big and broad that
your actual desire is not really present. And so what
I do is I actually I bring people down into
(00:20):
the smallest action and actually do a practice of meditation
on the core desire. And this isn't meditation like the
way you think of like Eastern meditation, where you sit
and just become aware of your thoughts and you do
nothing and all that stuff. No, this is actually a
meditative exercise. You are acting in this process, and you
(00:40):
are getting things done in this practice. And so I
have people sit down and go into the practice of
what do you want in the next thirty seconds? What
do you want in this next minute. If you can't
figure out what you want in the next thirty seconds,
if you don't know what flavor of ice cream you like,
(01:02):
you can't figure out how you're going to conquer a country,
you can't figure out how you're going to build a business,
you can't figure out how you're going to.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Change the world.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
And there's so many people who want these massive overarching
life goal accomplishments, and they don't know a flavor of
ice cream they like. They don't know, you know, what
they want to do for the evening. They don't know
what would make them feel like they've accomplished something that week.
And if you think of desire and clarity and accomplishment
(01:36):
and success as skill sets as opposed to results, if
you think of them as things that you build over time,
as opposed to things that just happen to you, then
it's very obvious that you need to start with a
small step and then get good at it, and then
through that skill of being good at it, be able
(01:58):
to take bigger steps. And so this is a key
component to human growth is learning how to tap into
something small enough that you have clarity on it. And
then once you do that, you get the skill of
clarity and you just become clear on bigger and bigger
things through the practice.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
And how do you distinguish between a desire and an hympulse?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
For example, I love it, so I go through this exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
So the way I like to frame it is it's
the difference between a desire and a craving, And the
difference is very simple. The difference between a desire and
a craving is a desire is something that you want
and when you get it, it makes you more, and
a craving is something that you want and when you
(02:48):
get it, it makes you less.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
And so it's really mind blowing.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
And most people struggle with the concept of desire because
they haven't split out desire into separate categories.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
And so because of that, we have.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
A cultural demonization of desire, which is, you know, like like,
you know, most religions are like ooh, like whatever you want,
it's bad, right, Like, don't don't tap into those human
cravings and desires that you know, that's the path to
the evil. Right. All of that comes about because humans
haven't been taught discernment. And if you can learn a
(03:24):
little bit of discernment, which is okay, there are different
types of wants in the world, and if you can
learn to identify the difference between what you want that
makes you less and what you want that makes you more,
you can start choosing things that you honestly want, the
things that you just like hunger for the way, you know,
(03:47):
all in the hungers after an antelope and chase after
it with all of the power and passion that that
desire fuels you with and it can lead you to
a positive place instead of a negative one. You can
be empowered by your own human drives because you have
tapped into a little bit of this discernment. I love
(04:10):
that you brought this up because this is literally the
second section in the program that I teach, Like, the
first section is getting this clarity, and the second section
is tapping into what you want and doing it in
a positive manner. Because this is how you develop the
skill of clarity and purpose. This is how you develop
(04:30):
the skill of knowing what you want, of knowing what
to do and feeling like what you're doing matters. Is
having alignment with this exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Sometimes I have this inner conflict because imagine the mountain climberg.
This is to illustrate this inner conflict. So you have
the mountain climber. It wants to go up the hill
and it wants to arrive to the top, and no
matter like, he has some hardships to to fight and
he has to overcome some obstacles and stuff like that,
(05:05):
and this part of his journey, you know. And and
then you have the other mountain climber that stays. Today
is very cold, I'm feeling tired, you know, like why
I don't just stay at the base camp and you know,
like drinking beers and whatever. Why would I put myself
to go to this all this hard ship to go
to the top. And this perfectly like you said, because
(05:28):
if I go to the top and I'm able to
control control my impulses, then I'm able to to be
more and in underhand. If I stay at the base
camp fulfilling all my cravings at the moment my lp
iman hits and so on, I will in the end
of the day I'll be having less or being becoming
less instead of more.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
And this is a beautiful example because the thing is
is that if your mind just says, well, I just
want to be at the top of the mountain, that
that's very vague and it doesn't give you a clear
direction when you're at the base camp and it's cold
and wet and raining. So and because you also have
a desire, which is I don't want to be cold
(06:11):
and wet, right like, that's real. But if you are
honing in on Okay, it's morning time, and I know
that I have this overarching goal to get to the
top of the mountain. But it's morning and i'm and
it's cold and wet out, and I don't feel like
getting out of my tent. But what do I want
in this moment? Okay, well, I don't want to be
(06:33):
cold and wet, but I'd also like to be less
affected by cold and wet. I'd also like to feel
like it could take on the challenges of the world.
I also feel like I would like to be able
to in this case, like be able to transcend this
a difficulty. And it's not I want to get to
the top of the mountain. I want to transcend all difficulties.
(06:54):
It's you know what I want to be able to
handle this morning chill and all of a sudden You
don't have to think in these broad strokes. You can
think in tiny steps of oh well, my goal isn't
to get to the top of my mountain. The goal
is to open the tent zipper.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
The goal is to.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
You know, get out by the campfire and you know,
stoke the fire.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
A little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
There's still some coals left. And I want to be
able to be willing to like handle little bit of
rain drops on my back while I get this fire,
going and warm up, and then hop up and down
beside the fire, and now, oh, well, look I'm actually
excited to now I want to go on a hike.
And oh look, now I'm hiking up the mountain. And
you get halfway there, and now the mountain's closer, and
(07:44):
you go, okay, well I want to get to the
next quarter. But also I can see the mountain, and
so now the bigger goal is more real to me.
And all of this turns into a skill set. You
build this skill set over time. And so this is
what I teach, and this is what you can do
when you just narrow in where you are trying to
get clarity. If you'd like to build your life and
(08:06):
business with me, go to the link below or go
to apply dot Josh cherry plays dot com
When you have a big, overarching desire like I want
to be more confident, I want to lose weight, I
want to build a business, I want to get in
a relationship. These things are so big and broad that
your actual desire is not really present. And so what
I do is I actually I bring people down into
(00:20):
the smallest action and actually do a practice of meditation
on the core desire. And this isn't meditation like the
way you think of like Eastern meditation, where you sit
and just become aware of your thoughts and you do
nothing and all that stuff. No, this is actually a
meditative exercise. You are acting in this process, and you
(00:40):
are getting things done in this practice. And so I
have people sit down and go into the practice of
what do you want in the next thirty seconds? What
do you want in this next minute. If you can't
figure out what you want in the next thirty seconds,
if you don't know what flavor of ice cream you like,
(01:02):
you can't figure out how you're going to conquer a country,
you can't figure out how you're going to build a business,
you can't figure out how you're going to.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Change the world.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
And there's so many people who want these massive overarching
life goal accomplishments, and they don't know a flavor of
ice cream they like. They don't know, you know, what
they want to do for the evening. They don't know
what would make them feel like they've accomplished something that week.
And if you think of desire and clarity and accomplishment
(01:36):
and success as skill sets as opposed to results, if
you think of them as things that you build over time,
as opposed to things that just happen to you, then
it's very obvious that you need to start with a
small step and then get good at it, and then
through that skill of being good at it, be able
(01:58):
to take bigger steps. And so this is a key
component to human growth is learning how to tap into
something small enough that you have clarity on it. And
then once you do that, you get the skill of
clarity and you just become clear on bigger and bigger
things through the practice.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
And how do you distinguish between a desire and an hympulse?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
For example, I love it, so I go through this exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
So the way I like to frame it is it's
the difference between a desire and a craving, And the
difference is very simple. The difference between a desire and
a craving is a desire is something that you want
and when you get it, it makes you more, and
a craving is something that you want and when you
(02:48):
get it, it makes you less.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
And so it's really mind blowing.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
And most people struggle with the concept of desire because
they haven't split out desire into separate categories.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
And so because of that, we have.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
A cultural demonization of desire, which is, you know, like like,
you know, most religions are like ooh, like whatever you want,
it's bad, right, Like, don't don't tap into those human
cravings and desires that you know, that's the path to
the evil. Right. All of that comes about because humans
haven't been taught discernment. And if you can learn a
(03:24):
little bit of discernment, which is okay, there are different
types of wants in the world, and if you can
learn to identify the difference between what you want that
makes you less and what you want that makes you more,
you can start choosing things that you honestly want, the
things that you just like hunger for the way, you know,
(03:47):
all in the hungers after an antelope and chase after
it with all of the power and passion that that
desire fuels you with and it can lead you to
a positive place instead of a negative one. You can
be empowered by your own human drives because you have
tapped into a little bit of this discernment. I love
(04:10):
that you brought this up because this is literally the
second section in the program that I teach, Like, the
first section is getting this clarity, and the second section
is tapping into what you want and doing it in
a positive manner. Because this is how you develop the
skill of clarity and purpose. This is how you develop
(04:30):
the skill of knowing what you want, of knowing what
to do and feeling like what you're doing matters. Is
having alignment with this exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Sometimes I have this inner conflict because imagine the mountain climberg.
This is to illustrate this inner conflict. So you have
the mountain climber. It wants to go up the hill
and it wants to arrive to the top, and no
matter like, he has some hardships to to fight and
he has to overcome some obstacles and stuff like that,
(05:05):
and this part of his journey, you know. And and
then you have the other mountain climber that stays. Today
is very cold, I'm feeling tired, you know, like why
I don't just stay at the base camp and you know,
like drinking beers and whatever. Why would I put myself
to go to this all this hard ship to go
to the top. And this perfectly like you said, because
(05:28):
if I go to the top and I'm able to
control control my impulses, then I'm able to to be
more and in underhand. If I stay at the base
camp fulfilling all my cravings at the moment my lp
iman hits and so on, I will in the end
of the day I'll be having less or being becoming
less instead of more.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
And this is a beautiful example because the thing is
is that if your mind just says, well, I just
want to be at the top of the mountain, that
that's very vague and it doesn't give you a clear
direction when you're at the base camp and it's cold
and wet and raining. So and because you also have
a desire, which is I don't want to be cold
(06:11):
and wet, right like, that's real. But if you are
honing in on Okay, it's morning time, and I know
that I have this overarching goal to get to the
top of the mountain. But it's morning and i'm and
it's cold and wet out, and I don't feel like
getting out of my tent. But what do I want
in this moment? Okay, well, I don't want to be
(06:33):
cold and wet, but I'd also like to be less
affected by cold and wet. I'd also like to feel
like it could take on the challenges of the world.
I also feel like I would like to be able
to in this case, like be able to transcend this
a difficulty. And it's not I want to get to
the top of the mountain. I want to transcend all difficulties.
(06:54):
It's you know what I want to be able to
handle this morning chill and all of a sudden You
don't have to think in these broad strokes. You can
think in tiny steps of oh well, my goal isn't
to get to the top of my mountain. The goal
is to open the tent zipper.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
The goal is to.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
You know, get out by the campfire and you know,
stoke the fire.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
A little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
There's still some coals left. And I want to be
able to be willing to like handle little bit of
rain drops on my back while I get this fire,
going and warm up, and then hop up and down
beside the fire, and now, oh, well, look I'm actually
excited to now I want to go on a hike.
And oh look, now I'm hiking up the mountain. And
you get halfway there, and now the mountain's closer, and
(07:44):
you go, okay, well I want to get to the
next quarter. But also I can see the mountain, and
so now the bigger goal is more real to me.
And all of this turns into a skill set. You
build this skill set over time. And so this is
what I teach, and this is what you can do
when you just narrow in where you are trying to
get clarity. If you'd like to build your life and
(08:06):
business with me, go to the link below or go
to apply dot Josh cherry plays dot com
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.