5 Habits that Encourage Your Success – Intention
Do you ever stop to do this simple step?
Before you go networking, before you write an email, before you have a sales conversation?
If you do, you may notice that you get better results – almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If you don’t, it’s time to adopt this Habit that Encourages Your Success on a regular basis!
Watch the video to discover what practice I’m talking about or read the transcript below. And let me know what you discover when you make this practice a habit!
I’m back with another series: 5 Habits That Encourage Your Success. And today, I’m coming from inside, because it’s a little nippy outside; it’s autumn and it’s becoming winter. You can tell that leaves are falling off the trees, so you can see the lake even better. And the first habit I want to talk to you about that will enhance your success is INTENTION.
Intention. You’ve heard about it a lot. I want to go deeper into it, and how you can put it into practice in your life for your business success.
The definition of “intention” according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary is, “the determination to act in a certain way; resolve.”
Why do we want to have resolve or intention?
Because you can just drift along the way things are. And things next year look like they do this year – if you don’t have determination, resolve, intention. I think it gives our personalities, our minds, our spirits something to go for.
And when we’re committed to it – as I know you are committed to your work, to your mission, to your dreams – when we’re committed to it, all sorts of things show up – including challenges.
Making an intention doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re not going to learn something. But it is really important – especially on the big things – to intend what you want. It can be important on the little things, too, of course.
Let’s say you intend to have a successful business. And unless you’re an online wizard – which I’m not – you’re going to have to get good with interpersonal interactions, with sales conversations, with marketing and attracting your ideal clients. So those are smaller intentions within the big intention of having a successful business.
And you’re probably going to go networking. That may be one of your marketing strategies. And if so, here’s a simple example of having an intention around an event.
An Example of Setting An Intention
So let’s say you’re going to go networking. It may not be your favorite thing. I know a lot of people don’t like it. But it’s necessary, if you want to have 1-to-1 contact and develop relationships with people that can lead to their becoming a client of yours.
Let’s say you’re going to a networking event, and you want to meet three people and find one person who’s either an ideal client prospect, or a potential referral source. So what’s the best way to do that?
I know, in the past, I’ve done a lot of mental intentions. Like, “That’d be great. I can go meet three people and get a sales conversation out of it maybe. Maybe I’ll meet somebody that I can refer business back and forth to.”
But that doesn’t really work as well as getting the sensation into your body: getting the intention, like being full-bodied about it. Like a full-bodied wine.
And one of the really good ways to do that is to project what that’s going to feel like when it’s happened. If you haven’t read Danielle LaPorte’s book, The Desire Map, I encourage you to look at it. Because her whole premise is: You really need to act in ways that are going to help you feel the way you want to feel. No more mental goals – really full-bodied goals. Goals that really feel good to you. That’s her point.
How Does Your Intention Feel When It Is Fulfilled?
So let’s go back to, “I’m going to network. I want to meet three people. I want to find either an ideal prospect or a referral source.” So if I stop and think, “Oh, gosh, what’s that going to feel like? How do I want to feel going into that situation?”
It might feel something like this:
“I feel calm and confident."
“I feel friendly and open to meeting new people."
“I feel really guided to talk to the perfect people."
“And I’m so happy when that person that shows up that I’ve been looking for.”
Can you tell the difference from like, the more mental to the more embodied, the more feeling nature of that?
Try This!
Try on an intention that you would really like to experience.
It can be small – like, “I want to go networking and have it be a successful experience. And my measure of success is that, I talk to three people, I get a business referral, create a relationship with a business referral source. Or I find someone who would like to me about doing work with me.”
So try that on this week. Let me know how it goes. And if there’s anything that you have a question about – or you would like to see more of in these video series – please let me know. Love to hear from you.