Tag Archives: stick to it

Use Your Power of Intention

There are two types of people, those who plan everything and those who plan nothing.  I believe spontaneity has its place in life, but when it comes down to accomplishment and actually getting something done, you need to have the end of your efforts in mind. It will help fuel your activities and guide you toward your desired result.  Without the guidance of a genuine intention, we are easily distracted from our path, and reaching our accomplishments will be difficult, but setting an intention is relatively easy. The little effort it takes will allow people to turn their goals into reality and live more fulfilling lives.

Plan Nothing

A wise friend once told me, “If you plan nothing, that is exactly what will happen.”  This is as true for your big goals in life as it is for how you spend your time on the weekend.  Creating a plan will focus on your actions and guide you in the time you can spend on each task to achieve everything you want.  In the short term, you will find your weekends much more productive if you create a list of intentions you will accomplish in that time.  That means committing your thoughts to paper and making a list of the intentions you are pursuing.  There will be things you want to do and things you have to do.  You will be shocked how just writing down something will hold you accountable when you just thought about your list in your mind. It is easy to “forget” your intentions.

With bigger goals, you need to write them down and continually review them.  Break down the ultimate accomplishment into smaller pieces, write them down, and move forward to make it happen.  Keeping the result in mind as you work through creation is vital to keep you working toward achieving what you want in life.  Without intention, long-term goals are virtually impossible. There must be a “fire” inside you to accomplish anything of substance and make it last.  People tend to move like a boat on the water with broken steering cables with no clear destination. They move very quickly in a circle, always in motion, but most energy is wasted because it isn’t taking you anywhere.  Keep your desired ending in mind and write down an intention to get there.

The Path

Once you set an intention and act for a purpose, the path you must take opens up in front of you. It isn’t by magic, and it is by necessity.  Each step you need to take will be there in front of you.  Will there be “missteps”? Yes, there will be an experience you need and the knowledge you have to obtain to reach your ultimate goal.  People without intention can lose their motivation after just one minor setback, whereas someone who desires to accomplish a thing will have no issue continuing their effort regardless of what is in their way. Your intention leads the way.

Keep moving ahead, even taking just a tiny step daily, and you will inevitably find the next available step.  The path to all outstanding accomplishments is easy to see from the endpoint of success. Looking back, you can see how all things are connected. Moving forward, you have to have faith in the Universe to cause all of the tumblers to fall just where they need to for your intention to become a reality.

Each day we begin a new chance to follow the goals we want, or we will unconsciously work toward someone else’s intention. Be conscious of what you want, write it down, revisit the statement often, and have faith you will accomplish what you seek.

“Every morning, you have two choices: continue to sleep with your dreams or wake up and chase them.”

“Intention is one of the most powerful forces there is. What you mean when you do a thing will always determine the outcome. The law creates the world.” — Brenna Yovanoff

“Every journey begins with the first step of articulating the intention, and then becoming the intention.” — Bryant McGill

“A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.” — Seneca 

 

Perseverance

Knowing what you want can be the most challenging thing to become aware of for many people.  Knowing what you want is a big thing. It sounds like it would be easy to state what you want, like enjoying a lot of money, love in your life, or freedom to do what you want.  All of these are great but very vague and lack purpose.  The why of any goal is going to provide the fuel to the achievement of any kind.

Every goal and desire will come with a series of steps that need to be accomplished to reach the great purpose.  This is the journey. As with any trip, it is going to take perseverance to run a successful conclusion.  That is the ability to keep moving forward despite obstacles and setbacks you encounter on your way.  Developing a solid case of perseverance is the key to most successful adventures because you can keep your eye on the prize and overcome whatever gets in your way.

Nothing Is Perfect

Many times, we start a journey, and we have expectations built up in our minds about what a successful conclusion will look like. We become so attached to that vision that any other decision, regardless of value, makes us suffer. Allowing things to come to us in their way and time makes the most sense.

It is often easier to do nothing at all and take no steps toward your goals because you are worried that you will fail. And then what will happen to your grand plans? Rather than worrying about failure, think of how you can turn a perceived setback into a positive in your life.  All goals and accomplishments are completed in a process, and there are lessons to learn on the journey. Nothing is going to go perfectly as you see it in your mind all the time.  There may be valuable nuggets of information that you need to find before ultimate success is yours. Often, the hurdles you have to jump and the rocks you navigate around provide the best memories.

Set an Intention and Stick To It

One of the best ways to maintain your momentum in pursuit of your goals is to develop a positive and powerful intention that is easy to understand and easy to stick with. The power of intention is to allow your energy to be directed toward a goal in a concentrated way.  It will also act as a compass for you when you get a little bit off track. Writing down your intentions gives you a chance to feel if it is something you want to accomplish.

Intentions are the key to starting the ignition of accomplishment and knowing exactly what we want.  As I said before, many people drift around different things, never committing to what they want. That leads to a life of floating around, fluttering from one thing to another. Choose an intention, make it a goal, follow it to its conclusion, and evaluate it. Just because you think you might want something doesn’t mean you do.  And that is just fine.  It is called learning, and that is what life is all about.  Set an intention and stick to it until it comes into reality. Then choose another one and do the same thing again.  How else can you live the life you live.

Attention Please

Along with thinking about where you would like to go is paying attention to daily focus. Are you distracted by work? Other projects? Fears? Lack of confidence? Or is your attention focused on the things in your day that will lead you toward your goals and intentions? Where your attention goes, that thing will grow.  If your attention is removed from it, then that thing will dwindle into nothingness.

Focus your attention on the positive things you want in your life. No matter what you want, make a plan, follow it through, focus on your goals, intentions, attention, and stick to it no matter what.

Take These Steps

  1. Determine what you want to achieve.
  2. Break down how you will get there.
  3. Write it down.
  4. Make it stick.
  5. Do one thing every day that brings you closer to your goals.

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”-Albert Einstein.

“I will persist until I succeed. Always will I take another step. If that is of no avail, I will take another, and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult. I know that small attempts, repeated, will complete any undertaking.”- Og Mandino.

“A failure is not always a mistake. It may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.”-B.F. Skinner.