We've all heard it. It’s the bumper-sticker wisdom that sounds great when you’re drinking a morning latte but feels like a slap in the face when your bank account is overdrawn or your career is stuck in neutral. If you want you can get it. It sounds simple, right? Just want it enough, and the universe—or your boss, or your luck—will eventually cave in.
But honestly, the phrase if you want you can get it is kinda dangerous if you don’t understand the mechanics behind it.
Most people treat this like magic. They think it’s about "manifesting" things out of thin air. It isn't. It’s actually a brutally pragmatic observation about human psychology and resource allocation. If you look at people who actually "get it," they aren't necessarily the smartest or the most talented. They’re just the ones who were willing to pay the specific price that everyone else found too expensive.
The Psychological Trap of False Desires
Let’s be real for a second. Most of us don't actually want the things we say we want.
You might say you want to be a best-selling author. But do you want to sit in a chair for four hours every Saturday morning while your friends are at brunch, staring at a blinking cursor and hating everything you write? Probably not. You want the status of being an author, not the process of writing.
When people say if you want you can get it, they’re talking about a level of desire that overrides comfort. Psychologists often refer to this as "intrinsic motivation." According to a 2018 study published in Motivation and Emotion, individuals who are driven by internal satisfaction rather than external rewards (like fame or money) are significantly more likely to persist through the "dip"—that period where things get hard and the initial excitement wears off.
It’s about the trade-off.
Everything has a price tag that isn't measured in dollars. If you want a six-pack, the price is skipping the pizza and hitting the gym when you’re tired. If you want to start a business, the price is potentially losing your social life for three years. Most people want the result, but they aren't willing to buy the process. So, they don't actually "want" it in the way the phrase intends.
Why Your Brain Might Be Sabotaging You
Neuroscience tells us our brains are literally wired for the path of least resistance.
The basal ganglia, a group of subcortical nuclei in the brain, are responsible for habit formation and efficiency. They want you to keep doing what you’ve always done because it’s safe and calorie-efficient. When you try to "get" something new, you’re fighting against millions of years of evolution. Your brain thinks you’re being reckless.
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This is why "wanting" it isn't just a feeling; it’s a conscious override of your biological programming. It requires a high level of prefrontal cortex engagement—the part of the brain responsible for executive function and long-term planning.
The "If You Want You Can Get It" Myth vs. Reality
We need to address the elephant in the room: systemic barriers.
It would be dishonest to say that a kid born into poverty in a war zone has the same "if you want you can get it" path as a trust-fund baby in Manhattan. Luck, zip codes, and genetics matter. A lot.
However, the core of the if you want you can get it philosophy isn't about ignoring external reality. It’s about maximizing the variables you can control.
Take the story of James Dyson. He spent 15 years and created 5,127 failed prototypes of his vacuum cleaner. He was deeply in debt. Most people would have "wanted" success but quit after prototype 50. Dyson "wanted" it in a way that made the failure irrelevant to the goal. He wasn't delusional; he was iterating.
The Difference Between Interest and Commitment
There’s a great quote often attributed to Ken Blanchard: "When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when it's convenient. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results."
That's the heartbeat of the phrase.
- Interest is reading a book about investing.
- Commitment is setting up an automatic transfer to your brokerage account even when you want to buy new shoes.
- Interest is "wanting" a better job.
- Commitment is applying to five roles every single night and tailoring every resume.
How to Actually "Get It" Without Losing Your Mind
If you're serious about the idea that if you want you can get it, you have to stop thinking about the "it" and start thinking about the "how."
Step one is a brutal audit. Look at your calendar. Look at your bank statement. These are the only two honest documents in your life. They tell you exactly what you "want." If your calendar shows six hours of Netflix and your bank statement shows $200 spent on takeout, then you "want" comfort and convenience. There’s no judgment in that, but you have to be honest with yourself.
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Audit Your Environment
Environment design is more powerful than willpower.
If you want to get fit, but your kitchen is full of junk food, you’re making your brain work ten times harder than it needs to. If you want to get a promotion, but you spend your lunch breaks gossiping with the coworkers who hate the management, you’re drowning your ambition in a bucket of crabs.
Success is often just a series of small, boring choices made over a long period.
The Role of Grit and Resilience
Angela Duckworth, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, famously defined "grit" as passion and perseverance for long-term goals. Her research found that grit was a better predictor of success than IQ or talent.
This is essentially the scientific validation of if you want you can get it.
The "wanting" provides the passion. The "getting" is the result of the perseverance.
But there’s a nuance here. You can’t just smash your head against a brick wall and call it grit. You have to be willing to pivot. If the door is locked, you don't just keep running into it; you look for a window, or you build a ladder, or you find a different house.
The Cost of Getting Everything
Be careful what you wish for.
Every "yes" to a big goal is a "no" to something else. If you get the corner office, you might lose the ability to see your kids' soccer games. If you get the world-class physique, you might lose the ability to go out for spontaneous drinks with friends.
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The phrase if you want you can get it is a promise, but it’s also a warning. You can have almost anything you want, but you can’t have everything you want. Priority comes from the Latin word prior, meaning "first." By definition, you can only have one priority at a time.
Actionable Steps to Bridge the Gap
If you are currently staring at a goal that feels out of reach, stop focusing on the distance. Focus on the mechanics.
Define the "Price" Immediately. Don't think about what you want to gain. Think about what you are willing to lose. Are you willing to lose sleep? Are you willing to lose the approval of people who don't get your vision? Are you willing to look stupid for a while? If the answer is no, stop chasing that goal. You’re just wasting energy.
Reverse Engineer the Path. If you want to be a professional photographer, don't just buy a camera. Find a professional photographer and look at what they did five years ago. They didn't start with the Nike contract; they started by shooting weddings for free or taking pictures of fruit in their backyard.
Ignore the "How" Until You Solidify the "Why." The "how" is tactical. The "why" is the fuel. When you hit the inevitable wall—and you will—the "how" won't save you. Only a deep, visceral "why" will keep you from quitting.
Iterate Faster. The biggest difference between those who get what they want and those who don't is the speed of their feedback loops. Don't spend six months planning. Spend six days planning and then do something. Fail. Adjust. Try again.
Stop Waiting for Permission. Nobody is going to come to your house and hand you a certificate that says you’re allowed to be successful now. You have to decide. You have to take it.
The reality is that if you want you can get it isn't a guarantee of easy success. It’s a statement of agency. It’s an acknowledgment that, while the world is messy and unfair, you still hold the steering wheel of your own life.
You just have to be willing to drive through the storms.
To move from wanting to getting, start by listing the three most significant sacrifices you are prepared to make this week to move your primary goal forward. Document the specific time blocks you will reallocate from passive consumption to active production. Finally, identify one person in your network who has already achieved what you want and reach out to them—not for a favor, but to ask about the hardest part of their journey that nobody sees. This shift from dreaming to data-gathering is the first real step toward the "get it" phase of the equation.