There are seasons in life when the thing that keeps you alive inside is the very thing others accuse of destroying your life.

I know that tension well.

For me, building a business—especially one focused on helping homestead content creators—has never been about ego, money, or recognition. It is what I reach for when I am healthy. It is what I do when I am not buried in addiction or numbing myself to pain.

Vision is the opposite of addiction for me.

Vision is oxygen.

When I lose vision, I drift. When I drift long enough, discouragement grows. And when discouragement grows, the temptation to numb pain through addiction grows stronger.

But when I pursue a vision—when I try to build something that blesses other people—life begins to move again.  

Meaning returns.

Hope returns.

Direction returns.

Yet the strange reality is that sometimes the pursuit of that vision is misunderstood by the very people we love.

There have been moments when angry words were shouted at me suggesting that trying to build something meaningful was ruining my life. That striving to create something good was selfish. That the effort to grow and bless others was somehow destructive.

Those words hurt.

But they also raise a deeper question every driven person eventually faces:

What do you do when the desires in your heart are stronger than the doubts around you?

Scripture offers an answer.

Psalm 37:4 teaches:

"Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart."

This verse is often misunderstood.

It does not simply mean God hands us whatever we want.

It means that when we draw near to Him, He begins to refine our desires. He plants new ones. He shapes and gradually refines the longings of our heart until they align with His purposes.

Those desires can feel like fire in the bones.

And sometimes that fire drives us forward even when almost everyone else believes the effort is foolish.

Which brings us to two bicycle mechanics from Ohio.

Orville Wright (1871-1948) taken about 1908.

At the end of the nineteenth century, the idea of powered human flight was widely considered impossible.

Scientists had studied it.

Inventors had tried it.

Experts had written papers explaining why it could not be done.

Many of the greatest engineering minds in the world believed heavier‑than‑air flight was mathematically impossible.

Yet two brothers—Wilbur and Orville Wright—refused to accept that conclusion.

They were not famous scientists.

They were not university professors.

They ran a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio.

But they possessed something far more powerful than credentials.

They possessed a desire that would not go away.

Before the Wright brothers began their experiments, many respected scientists believed the problem of flight had already been solved—by proving it could not be done.

Prominent mathematicians had published calculations showing that the power required for sustained flight exceeded what any engine could produce.

Some newspapers openly mocked the idea of human flight.

Others declared that if flight were ever possible, it would be centuries away.

But the Wright brothers noticed something the experts overlooked.

The problem of flight was not primarily a problem of power.

It was a problem of control.

Birds did not simply flap harder.

They steered.

They balanced.

They adjusted their wings constantly.

So instead of building powerful engines first, the Wright brothers began studying how to control a flying machine.

Between 1899 and 1903 the Wright brothers conducted hundreds of experiments.

They traveled repeatedly to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where strong winds and soft sand made testing safer.

Their early gliders failed.

Wing designs did not produce enough lift.

Control systems malfunctioned.

Calculations proved unreliable.

One of the most discouraging discoveries came when the brothers realized the scientific data they were relying on—data published by respected researchers—was wrong.

Instead of giving up, they did something remarkable.

They built their own wind tunnel.

Inside their bicycle shop.

There they tested more than two hundred wing designs, carefully recording the results of each experiment.

Slowly they began to understand the true mechanics of lift and control.

​Every failure brought them closer to success.

On December 17, 1903, the Wright Flyer lifted off the ground at Kitty Hawk.

The first flight lasted twelve seconds.

It traveled 120 feet.

By modern standards it seems insignificant.

But it marked the beginning of the age of aviation.

Everything that came later—commercial air travel, international cargo transport, humanitarian aid flights, global connection—can be traced back to that small moment in the sand dunes of North Carolina.

And that moment traces back to something even more powerful than engineering.

​A desire that refused to die.

Psalm 37:4 again reminds us:

"Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart."

When we walk with God, our desires are refined.

The scriptures teach that desire is a central force in human life.

Alma 29:4 explains that God grants people according to their desires.

Doctrine and Covenants 58:27 teaches that we should be "anxiously engaged in a good cause."

Desire is not something to suppress when it is aligned with goodness.

It is something to cultivate.

But divine desires often come with opposition.

The scriptures also teach that there is an adversary who seeks to discourage and destroy good desires.

Discouragement is one of the enemy's most powerful tools.

​If he cannot stop a good work, he will try to convince the person attempting it to quit.

One of the most fascinating success books ever written is How to Get Anything You Want by Elsie Lincoln Benedict.

Her teachings emphasize that success begins with what she calls a supreme wish.

She writes:

"If your deepest, most absorbing desire is success, nothing under Heaven can keep it from you." (p.557)

She also explains:

"The answer you make, in your secret soul, determines with utter certainty what you are going to get." (p.558)

These insights echo the scriptures.

The direction of our lives is determined largely by the desires we choose to nurture.

Benedict outlines several powerful principles for achieving great things.

You must know what you want.

Vague wishes rarely produce powerful outcomes.

The Wright brothers did not vaguely hope someone might someday fly.

​They were determined to solve the specific problem of controlled flight.

Belief does not mean success will be easy.

It means refusing to accept that success is impossible.

​History's greatest innovators believed something before evidence existed to prove it.

Every great achievement appears in imagination before it appears in reality.

Vision precedes invention.

The Wright brothers could see controlled flight long before the world believed it possible.

Discouragement is inevitable.

But persistence transforms discouragement into eventual breakthrough.

Thomas Edison famously tested thousands of materials before finding a workable filament for the electric light bulb.

Abraham Lincoln lost multiple elections before becoming President of the United States.

George Washington endured brutal winters and repeated defeats before securing independence for the American colonies.

History consistently rewards persistence.

This may be the most important principle of all.

No one thrives in an atmosphere of constant discouragement.

Even strong people eventually lose momentum if every voice around them insists that failure is inevitable.

The Wright brothers had each other.

That mattered.

Encouragement multiplies courage.

Which is why communities of belief matter so much.

Before looking at this infographic, it is important to remember that it is okay to feel the full range of human emotions. Emotions themselves are not "good" or "bad." What often makes the difference is the story or narrative we attach to what we are feeling and how we choose to respond to it.

Napoleon Hill described a powerful contrast between two kinds of people: drifters and driven individuals.

Drifters allow circumstances to determine their direction.

Driven individuals pursue a purpose.

Emotionally, these two paths feel very different.

Encouragement tends to produce emotions such as:

Discouragement tends to produce emotions such as:
​

Understanding these emotional patterns can help us recognize when we are drifting and when we are driven:  pursuing purpose.

For me, this struggle has been very real.

When I lose vision, I drift toward depression.

When I drift long enough, addiction begins whispering again.

But when I pursue a meaningful vision—when I try to build something that blesses others—the fog begins to lift.

Progress returns.

Hope returns.

Purpose returns.

That is why I keep building even when I feel inadequate.

Because the alternative is drifting and depression.

Many people assume that great achievements require extraordinary people.

But scripture tells a different story.

God frequently works through imperfect individuals.

Moses felt inadequate.

Gideon believed he was the weakest man in his tribe.

Peter denied Christ before becoming a powerful apostle.

The pattern is clear.

God magnifies imperfect efforts.

He does not require perfection before we begin.

He requires willingness.

Go ahead and click on the above image and answer those questions for yourself.

Your answers can reveal whether you are moving toward purpose or drifting away from it.

Every visionary eventually encounters resistance.

Sometimes the resistance comes from strangers.

Sometimes it comes from loved ones who simply cannot yet see what we see.

That is why communities of encouragement matter so much.

"A single encouraging voice can change the trajectory of a life." -me

​Which is why studying success principles together can be so powerful.

If this message resonates with you, I invite you to take the next step.

Consider joining others who are studying these principles together.

Take the How To Get Anything You Want Challenge and explore the ideas from Elsie Lincoln Benedict that have inspired generations of people striving to become driven instead of drifting.

You can start here:

https://www.scottwesthoff.com/getanythingyouwant

You may also consider joining the Secrets of Success Book Club at the end of the challenge, where we surround ourselves with people who believe that growth, persistence, and divine purpose still matter.

Because sometimes the difference between drifting and changing the world is simply this:

Who you surround yourself with.

Gratefully,


Scott Alan Westhoff
​Create A Great Day.