The last few months, being intentional has been top of mind. We sprint through our days trading sleep for more coffee and things can get so busy and overwhelming, and yet it's us that create this. We say 'yes' when maybe we should say 'no', or 'yes but on these conditions'. One spontaneous 'yes' can create momentum and lead to an amazing opportunity, but one 'yes' can also take us in directions we don't really want to go, and we can drop the ball in areas that really matter to us if we aren't intentional about what we say 'yes' to.
There is real power in taking time to reflect and make clear choices about commitments, projects, people we invest in, directions and actions.
Sometimes, we're so excited about a new opportunity, we let that spark of passion lead us down a path that actually moves us further away from where we truly want to be heading. It's important to take time to know what we are deeply passionate about and then choose with intention, what degree of commitment we want to make.
Passion is great, but passion with clear intention is formidable!
When we are clear on what we want, we are more likely to achieve it. This week, see if you can make time to do this and be intentional about the next steps.
This daily blog from Seth Godin arrived recently too, which is a nice reminder about the commercial benefits of being intentional:
"There are two pitfalls you can encounter in dealing with focus and process:
In moments of weakness, you take on a project or client that's outside your focus zone. After all, you need the work.
In moments of blindness, you fail to expand what you do, relying on the fading glory of yesterday instead of realizing that you are perfectly positioned to go forward.
In 1994, I ignored the web, defining our business as being email pioneers, not, more broadly, pioneering digital interactions. It took three years to catch up from that error.
On the other hand, we raced to do business with online services from Apple and Microsoft. Not because they were in our focus, but because we could.
The easiest way to see these errors is in hindsight, which does you no good at all.
The best way to avoid these two errors is to regularly decide (in a moment of quiet, not panic) what you do and where you do it. With intention."
