Читать книгу Inspirational Presence - Jeff Evans - Страница 18

Intention is defined as “an anticipated outcome that guides your planned actions.” This breaks down into two distinct parts. First, understanding your “anticipated outcome” and second, “guiding your planned actions.” Many people don’t realize how much this plays out on a daily basis. For instance, how often have you seen a person (maybe yourself) walk into a situation expecting a negative outcome? For instance, let’s consider Sara, who holds a belief that meetings are a waste of time and nothing good ever happens there. She enters a staff meeting just knowing that it will be terrible (anticipated outcome) and, consequently, she sits idly and waits for it to go south (guides planned action). However, if you were to say to Sara that her intention was to have a bad meeting, she would probably disagree with you.

This is referred to as the Law of Attraction, which states that whatever we think about, believe, and focus our energy on is what we create for our lives—and it is important in our daily practice of life to know how to use this law. What Sara would probably say is that she just knew it would happen that way. She might even say that she really wanted to have a good meeting but felt it was beyond her control, and she might cite that as evidence that meetings are indeed a waste of time. At this level, what she is expressing is more like a wish. We get to be a leader when we add the power of our own dynamic presence, when we see the highest possible anticipated outcome and use ourselves in the moment to create that outcome. This is when we transform a passive wish into a clear intention.

It is really a question of consciousness and choice. As a leader, it is a requirement that we get very clear about the anticipated outcomes that we are carrying around. Intention ties in quite closely with our conscious and subconscious belief systems. As such, we can be carrying a negative limiting belief at a subconscious level that operates as a default guide—not a good thing for being a dynamic and powerful leader. For the purpose of leadership practice, we need to get clear on what we see as anticipated outcomes and use them to guide our actions in a way that helps us accomplish positive things.

Let’s use one example of conversations: At a very discreet level, we can think of each conversation we have as an opportunity to connect with our deepest beliefs and frame them into an intention. When you sit down to talk to someone, think about what it is that you want to accomplish through this time. Think about what is important to you and to the other person. After that, be clear about why you are having this conversation. Express what you say as an intention, as in “It is my intention to connect at an emotional level” or “It is my intention to get clear on our weekly priorities.” You can do this silently or, more powerfully, to the participants. From there, let that intention guide your actions.

Now, be careful—there is a potential downside to this. If you only focus on what you want to accomplish, you probably won’t get it. Communicating is building a system of rapport between people, and that requires healthy amounts of paying attention to the other person’s wants and needs. If we turn our intention into an agenda, we run the risk of shutting out other people.

Make it a practice to consistently be as clear as possible about your intentions for all of the things you do on a daily basis. Think about your intention in writing an email. Think about your intention in reading an email. Think about your intention when you greet a receptionist or the server in a restaurant. Think about your intention when you say hello to significant people in your life. Whatever it is, the greater degree to which we can bring up our “anticipated outcomes” and make them consciously our own, the more effective, dynamic, and powerful we will be in the world.