The Power of Intention

Last week, I wrote to you about leveraging the second-January-feel of September to help you end your year with a bang. As you think about what you want to focus on in the final quarter of 2019, another great idea is to take some time to connect with your “why.”

Setting an intention is a powerful way to keep you motivated as you trudge through the sometimes murky waters on the trail you’re blazing. When you have an idea of where you’re headed and why it matters, you up your chances of being able to push through those tough times.

For example, maybe you want to clear out the spare bedroom so you can host family and friends because connection is important to you. Or you want to create a budgeting system to get a better handle on your finances so you can pay off your mortgage early or travel or contribute to your retirement fund.

It’s easy to set all sorts of arbitrary goals like “lose weight,” “reduce debt,” and “spend more time with family,” but it’s a whole other ball game to be clear on why those goals are important to you in the first place.

Another benefit of getting clear on your intention is so you can more easily identify any clutter that is in or gets in your way.

Draining relationships.

Self-doubt.

Stacks of paperwork.

Extra pounds on your body.

Overflowing closets and shelves.

Naysayers.

It’s all clutter. Anything, and I mean anything that trips you up on your trail is clutter that needs to be addressed.

That may mean it needs to be cleared.

Or it needs to be healed.

Or a boundary needs to be set.

Or some re-framing needs to happen.

Handling it won’t always be easy. In fact, the clutter that surfaces on our way to living out loud is usually deep and wide, but that’s okay because you can do hard.

This week, think about those things you want to attain or accomplish in your life and ask yourself, “Why? Why do I want to have or do that?”

Go deeper than the first thing that pops up so you can really connect your heart and soul with your intention. Because when you do, I’ll bet you’ll surprise yourself with what you can accomplish.