If my math’s is right, then today the 26th of February 2021, means we’ve completed 15,34% of the year. Let’s pause and think about that for a second. What’s the feeling you get when you hear that number? Me: absolute PANIC. I feel like I’ve just left the starting block, not 15,34% down the track. The good news is, we’re about to show you how to use this number to motivate yourself.
The fast pace of time is a scary reality of life. Whatever our objectives are for 2021, they need to be in an increasing state of motion. At the very worst, hopefully, they are at least 15,34% along the track by now.
But ... We're Experiencing 'The Dip'.
Sadly, motion is probably not a collective experience we’re having at the moment. In fact, the opposite is taking place for many of us, described by a wonderful term called ‘The Dip’. Instead of our ambitions and objectives accelerating up the track with fantastic enthusiasm, we might find that our resolve is slowing down. That we’re actually falling behind the measure.
We tend to come face to face with the worries, busyness, routine, and the realities of each year in the month of February. The buoyed hope of a new year, where our declarations of achieving new heights, and the early acceleration found in the first two weeks of the year, are now distant. We are in The Dip. This is where a scary thought slips in: that this year might just become another year of average treading on the treadmill of life.
I have found increased freedom and ease in a simple thought process that only has two lines:
Intention needs direction
Direction needs systems
A common symptom of goals getting lost in the mire of routine is lack of clarity. Clarity empowers focus and energy. We need aligned clarity for our intention, direction and systems.
Intention
What is your intention this year? Your intention is a powerful notion that connects you to a place of desire, focus and authenticity. With that in mind, how would you complete this sentence?
My intention in 2021 is….
Intention could be compared to pregnancy, where we might ask ourselves ‘I wonder what this baby will become’? I find I need to make my intention somewhat emotional, and fairly simple. Without intention, we are aimless beings, void of excitement and meaning. Intention is sometimes found in outcomes like growth, and sometimes in virtues like gratitude or love.
When I am about to have a conversation with a person, I clarify my intention first. This empowers how I show up and makes me less vulnerable to another person’s response. Intention, when daily declared and engaged, enables a continual return to your chosen, predestined path. Un-clarified intention makes you susceptible to living the default intentions of survival, or even society.
Direction
Once you’ve clarified your intentions, your intentions need direction. How would you complete the following sentence?
My intention for 2021 is…This intention is leading me towards….
The intention of ‘love’ is possibly the noblest intention of all. But where’s love taking you? What’s the objective? And what’s possible because of love? What pictures of possibility emerge because you are intentional?
Over the years I have quoted the movie Shawshank Redemption so often, that I try and avoid overdoing it nowadays. But when it comes to envisioning pictures, I haven’t found a better example. Andy, the protagonist in the movie, has the intention of freedom. Freedom opens up a wonderful picture of choice, of a little hotel by the sea, fishing and productivity. Our intentions should open up the door of aligned possibility. Finding these pictures might require that we engage the ‘struggle’, allowing our mind to include and transcend the busyness of our year.
Something that can propel you forward is to really start paying attention to what you say – start using motional language to trigger motion, and the motivation will follow.
Systems
Brene´ Brown beautifully says, ‘Slogans need systems.’ That profound statement has informed much of my internal thinking. Without the system, or the practice, or the discipline, we live in false hope.
Finally, how would you complete this sentence?
My intention for 2021 is……. This intention is leading me towards….The system/s I have put in place so that I move forward daily is…
Systems are best when they’re simple. They are actions, decisions, rituals or processes that are followed consistently, that cast votes for the intention. A system for fitness might mean religiously taking out your workout gear every night, ready for use when the alarm goes off in the early morning. And the manager who says, ‘my intention is connected staff’ will need a system that brings people into a place of connection, where deep communication and understanding takes place. Andy from Shawshank Redemption has a simple one: ‘dig when everybody sleeps.’
As we enter March, may we find a renewed resolve to make 2021 a strong year. Why not; we still have 84,66% of this year to make the magic.