Let’s Talk About the Power of Intention
Firstly, let’s deal with the definition. When we say ‘intention’ – let alone the power of intention – what do we actually mean?
In spoken language, we use it in a lot of different contexts. Someone who has been thinking over their to-do list might say ‘today, I’m intending to do x and y’. A kid in trouble might say ‘I didn’t intend to break your window’. A policeman, meanwhile, might say to a criminal ‘are you carrying that with intent to cause harm?’. All these examples give off a sense of a plan or a desire.
However, that’s not quite the full story. If you look at the etymology – the linguistic history – of the word, you see that, in Latin, it nicely means ‘to stretch out’ and ‘to turn your attention to something’. In very early English, it also meant ‘heart, mind, or understanding’ – alongside ‘purpose or aspiration’.
It’s quite a complex word, and one that is much deeper than the way we use it now, in the sense of an immediate aim. Intention is really about what, at our deepest level, we are ‘stretching out’ towards – about what our hearts and minds are aspiring or paying attention to.
Intention is not about focus on the short-term microtasks – the things on your to-do list which arrange your day. It’s rather about the big things that should direct our lives – whether that’s supporting a loving family, our health, our communities, our mission or contributing to changing the world. It all starts from intention…However, unfortunately, many of us do not know what our true intentions are. This is a major problem. One that I encounter a lot with clients…there is often a lack of clarity around the ultimate goal or vision. Sound familiar? Without clarity on a long term goal or vision – work becomes an step-by-step linear process, we tackle the bombardment of little things that present themselves to us day-to-day. The immediate things to be sorted. Those many little, time-sapping, empty tasks that I discussed in my article on motivation. We prioritise escaping the immediate problem, in place of proactively creating the emerging future.
So, what can we do?
‘Tasting’ A Vision
If we think of the language again, we talk about having a ‘clear sense’ of our overarching intention. And I mean sense…to really anchor a vision in your mind, you need to sense it. We think we are pretty sophisticated beings, but actually our brains don’t distinguish between the imaginary and actual reality. Just think back to your last weird dream or nightmare…felt pretty real eh? A growing body of research around the powerful effects of emotions on our memories, emotionally imagining a vision of the future and actually ‘feeling’ it could be key to supercharging an intention. We can use this unique capacity of the human mind to really shape and crystallise a vision of a future state, immerse ourselves in it for a moment. Be captivated, or rather held captive by it. To live it in our imagination – see it, smell it, taste it, live it, feel it in your heart and in your hands.
A captivating vision can be a powerful thing…really anchoring it in our minds to help us ‘stretch out’ towards.
Power of Radical Imagining
The relationship between imagination and memory indicates that imagining future possibilities or realities is a function of memory. Cognitive neuroscientist Donna Rose Addis from the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto and University of Toronto explains that ‘both memory and imagination involve essentially the same process: combining bits and pieces of experience with emotions, inner commentary and things people have read or heard about’. Not only do we form memories of things in the past, but we also create memories of our mental simulations of what might happen.
I have found that the question ‘What if?’ is an incredibly powerful one. It opens our minds to imagining a world different to the one we inhabit. I am currently enjoying Rob Hopkins book titled “From What Is to What If’ where at the beginning or each chapter he vividly describes emotive images of a multitude of future possibilities.
He has even created a video of a walk through a day in 2030:
Stretching Out Towards An Intention
“It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in the thick of thin things.”
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Using imagination we can create a ‘future memory’ in our minds, one that we can recognise in our day-to-day and use it to inform our present actions. Instead of reactively taking action to escape the negatives of the present, we begin to take proactive action to create the emergence of the future we have imagined. We experience the world in a new way, through a new lens. We begin to see parts of that captivating future world in our daily lives. Little ‘waves’ from the future, gently calling ‘over here!’ and we can stretch out a hand to grasp them.
But productivity is not just about completing any old tasks quickly and efficiently. It’s about avoiding the ever-present ‘thick of thin things’ in our lives and channeling our long-term motivation and focus on the right things. It’s about doing the right things that lead you to your intention, the real definition of ‘Time Well Spent’.
The true expression of intentional action, towards a future we have seen in our minds, felt in our hearts and about to grasp in our hands.