Tag Archives: start with the end in mind

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 

 

Your Most Powerful Weapon

All people have a powerful tool of the imagination. You can use this tool to achieve very positive results or a very negative experience. Each of us decides how our imagination is used and the benefits or suffering we receive from it. All of these things are a choice, and the power of our choice in using our imagination will determine our ability to reach our goals successfully and live a life of passion.

Or our imagination can cause us to spend our lives living in fear. It is one of the essential parts of our development as people, we look forward with hope and determination, or we look all around in fear. The choice is all up to you and how you choose to use your powerful imagination.

Start with The End in Mind

What is it that you want? This simple-sounding question is one everyone asks themselves at some point in their journey in life. The fortunate ones know right away and in great detail what they want to accomplish. Others struggle because our minds are clouded with thoughts of suffering, experience, and reasons we can’t do something. If you’re discouraged in your dream, tell it to someone else, and immediately they will tell you all the reasons you won’t possibly find success. But all of us can achieve, and it starts with the positive use of our imagination and knowing where we want to go.

Start with the end in mind. Think of where you want to be in a year from now. Create a picture in your mind of where you want to be living, what you want to be doing, who you want to be doing it with, etc. Then start moving your way backward to the present moment. What sorts of things have to happen to get you to that point. Maybe you see something that you are unsure how to happen, but that is alright because the steps will become more apparent as you move forward. When you get back to the present moment, take the first step to move in that direction. Continually do this exercise and use your imagination to create the end goal, and your purpose will start to take you there.

Purpose and Power

The purpose is the force that gets us moving daily to work toward our goals. It is the thing that makes life valuable and provides meaning to the movements we undertake daily. When you imagine the end goals happening, the purpose of achievement will drive you to take action. Each action will bring experience to your life, the price and reward of having a purpose. These moments of action between now and the accomplishment of what you imagine determine the joy you experience in life.

Many people have set their goals too short in their existence. Many have a retirement goal and then reach that without any purpose left for the rest of their lives. Without a purpose in life and a force to drive you toward something, life is filled with empty moments of activity. People do things to fill the time but not to nourish the soul. Always have a dream, using your imagination to create the favorable circumstances of your life, and you will always have a purpose in your life. Actions that have meaning. That is the power of purpose in life, always having a force behind it.

Overcoming Fears

Fear is a poor use of the power of your imagination. We have all done it, though. We are considering the worst-case scenario and worrying about the future and what might happen or what someone else will think and how that will affect us and our lives. Worry is a misuse of imagination because most things won’t happen. And if they do, worrying about them won’t make them any easier to handle. Somehow we all take the challenges of life one second at a time. Actions always defeat and erase fear.

Fear is an illusion. We all experience fear because we are afraid of suffering. But once you recognize it and how it feels, you can start to create some appropriate action steps to lessen or eliminate the impact the fear will have on your life. Then list the positive results from those action steps being taken, and the fear will most often fade away. Faith is the opposite of fear. When it is difficult to see past the fear because it is pervasive in your life, keep the hope alive in your mind. You will overcome it.

The Great Mind Tool

Imagination is one of our most powerful tools, and it can help you create almost anything in your life. Whether those things are good or bad will be totally up to you. Imagining your goals from the end and moving backward is a powerful method to master your dreams and goals. These dreams bring purpose to your life, and purpose is the fuel to the enjoyment of life. Imagine that.

“The man who has no imagination has no wings.” – Muhammad Ali

“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” Albert Einstein

“What is now proved was once only imagined.” – William Blake