Hi, it’s Doug Holt with Author of Your Own Story and in today’s episode, we’re going to revisit one of our most popular daily growth hacks, so grab your notebooks and remember, the key to success is doing the work. Let’s get started.
The Power of Intention is a book that was written by Dr. Wayne Dyer. This book was recommended to me back in 2005, 2006, by my then business coach, who I would meet with every morning. This man was in his 70s and had built several extremely successful businesses. In fact, if you’ve ever written a check, ever written a letter, or actually if you’ve ever used a piece of software that records notes, which I won’t name the name, you’ve used and touched one of his businesses.
He was very conservative, and when I asked him, “What is the book or resource that you would recommend to me the most?” Here I am, a young entrepreneur running two businesses at the time, really getting after it. He turned to me and said, “Doug, you know what I recommend is The Power of Intention by Dr. Wayne Dyer.” Now, this blew me away. It blew me away for multiple reasons, but the main reason I was really shocked to hear this was here I have this conservative business owner recommending a quote unquote new age-y type of book. When I asked him why, he said, “Doug, the power of intention guides everything.” He said, “The concept behind this book is putting an intention out to the universe, but it also gets your mind going. It sets where you want to go and what do you want to be. What is your intention?”
Well, fast forward to today. This is a question my wife and I ask each other almost every single morning. In fact, just this very morning, we were sitting on our couch having a cup of coffee, and she turned to me and said, “What’s your intention for the day?” Now what she meant is, “What do you want to get out of the day? What do you want to put out in the world and get out by the end of the day? How do you want to act? How do you want to feel? What is your intention?”
I asked her the same question. This serves multiple facets, right? First of all, it gets me thinking about my day and what do I want out of the day? What is my outcome? How many times do we go into the day rushed, where we’re controlled by our boss or our email or spouse or family members or friends? The whole world seems to be coming at us sometimes, over and over again, when by the time it gets five, six or seven o’clock and you get home, you just don’t even know what happened with the day.
Part of being the author of your own story is setting your intention. Not only setting your intention for what you want in the future. Not even setting your intention for what you want a year from now, but what do you want each and every day? What is your intention?
Now when I set my intention in the morning, I actually think about this as I go throughout the day. It occurs to me. Today, what I wanted was peaceful focus, and during the day, as things started coming to me, I said, “You know what? This isn’t where I want to go.” The idea of peaceful focus kept playing in my mind. I was able to really focus on those few items that really mattered to me, and also take time away for myself to have that peace and tranquility.
What also works is, by talking to my wife, I get to know what her intention is. I get to know what she’s living on a daily basis. All too often, relationships, we assume that that person that we fell in love with or a friend or a co-worker or a sibling is the same as when we first met them. Maybe some changes here and there, but just like you, they’re changing every single day. So by stopping and setting your own intention, and then turning and asking somebody else, “What is your intention for the day?” You’re bridging that gap in communication, and building that relationship and that bond so much stronger. So it really serves twofold.
So I ask you today, grab your journal. Write down mind, body, soul, relationships, and business. So you have a holistic perspective, and ask yourself, “What is your intention for this year?” And each day, “What is your intention for today in those categories?” What is your intention with your mind? With your body? What’s the intention with your relationships? What is your intention with your business and your soul? I think you’re going to see this pull you in a direction much quicker than you ever thought possible, and the direction that you want to go to, so you can truly be the author of your own story.
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