Most drummers believe their results are down to talent, luck, timing, or the state of the industry.
Some blame the lack of gigs.
Some blame social media.
Some blame themselves.
Almost nobody looks at the real cause.
The real cause is desire.
Not wanting.
Not goals.
Not affirmations.
Not imagination.
Desire.
And unless you understand how desire actually works, your drumming life will always feel like a “have what you get” situation rather than something you control.
What I Mean by Desire (And What I Do Not)
When I say desire, I do not mean:
- Wanting something
- Liking the idea of something
- Thinking about something a lot
- Saying you want success, money, gigs, or recognition
That is surface-level wanting.
When I say desire, I mean:
A deep, emotionally charged, identity-level drive formed through experience that operates unconsciously and reorganizes your behaviour over time.
Desire is not a thought.
Desire is a program.
And that program runs whether you are aware of it or not.
Why the Law of Attraction Misses the Point
The traditional Law of Attraction claims:
“We become what we think about.”
That sounds appealing, but it does not match reality.
If thinking were enough:
- Everyone who thinks about success would be successful
- Everyone who imagines wealth would be wealthy
- Everyone who visualises progress would progress
They don’t.
Because thinking does not drive behaviour.
Desire does.
We do not become what we think about.
We become what we desire to be.
Thoughts follow desire.
Goals follow desire.
Persistence follows desire.
Wanting Comes After Desire, Not Before
This is where most people get it backwards.
A desire forms first, usually through a powerful experience.
That desire creates a yearning.
That yearning later shows up as conscious wanting.
Not the other way around.
You do not want something and then desire it.
You desire something and then want it.
That distinction explains why:
- Some people want success but never move
- Some people want money but sabotage themselves
- Some drummers want more gigs but remain stuck
The want is empty because the desire underneath it does not exist.
How My Own Desire Was Formed (And Fulfilled)
My first core desire formed when I was around seven years old.
I heard Rock and Roll Part One and Two.
Not casually – emotionally.
That beat did something to me.
I did not think, “I want to play drums.”
I desired to play that beat.
Within a short time:
- A drum kit appeared
- Drum lessons followed
- Drumming became my world
That was not planning.
That was desire expressing itself.
Later, another desire formed.
As a young drummer, I used to leave the house for gigs while my parents watched classic British TV shows – comedians, impressionists, entertainers, variety performers.
I desperately wanted to watch those shows.
But I also wanted to go to the gig.
Those two experiences fused.
Years later, I found myself working on tours, sessions, theatres, pantomimes, and shows with those exact types of performers. Not fame. Not pop stardom.
Proximity. Variety. Creative environments.
That was the desire.
And I achieved it exactly – nothing more, nothing less.
Why I Never Became a Famous Drummer
Here is the uncomfortable part.
I wanted to be a famous drummer.
But I did not desire it.
What I desired was:
- Variety
- Different music every night
- Creative change
- Working with entertainers, not repeating the same songs forever
So my career grew perfectly around that desire.
And when opportunities appeared that could have taken me beyond that level, I unconsciously sabotaged them.
Why?
Because my desire had already set the destination.
This is what some people call a “financial thermostat”.
I call it desire alignment.
You do not exceed what you truly desire.
You fulfil it.
Napoleon Hill Was Right – But Incomplete
Napoleon Hill opened Think and Grow Rich with one requirement:
“You must have a burning desire.”
He was right.
But he never explained why it works.
A burning desire:
- Determines what you notice
- Determines what you practice
- Determines what you persist with
- Determines what feels natural or unnatural to pursue
Over years and decades, behaviour aligns.
Outcomes follow.
Not because the universe rewards you – but because you cannot stop moving toward what you desire.
Desire Is Not Conscious – And That’s the Point
Most desire is formed early.
Through experience.
Through emotion.
Through what moves you.
That is why:
- Affirmations fail
- Motivation fades
- Surface goals collapse
You cannot out-talk a deeper program.
But once you recognise your core desire, something changes.
You can finally see:
- Why you are where you are
- Why certain paths feel forced
- Why others feel inevitable
The Uncomfortable Truth
You are always moving toward something.
You are a goal-targeting machine.
More accurately, you are a desire-fulfilling machine.
Your goals are intermediate steps.
Your actions are expressions.
Your outcomes are receipts.
Once a deep desire is programmed, behaviour will repeatedly reorganise itself over time until that desire is expressed in form.
That is not mysticism.
That is how humans work.
The Question That Actually Matters
The question is not:
“What do you want?”
The question is:
“What are you already working toward without realising it?”
Look at:
- What you practise
- What you tolerate
- What you repeat
- What you return to
That is your desire in action.
And once you see it, you can finally decide whether to continue fulfilling it – or deliberately reshape it.
This is the foundation everything else builds on.
When you’re ready, the next step is understanding how desire can be redirected toward ownership, leverage, and building a drumming business rather than waiting for gigs that may never come.
That is what this series is really about.
