Your Success Depends on Your Intentions

Are your intentions honourable?! An age-old question asked by prospective fathers-in-law – and one that is at the very centre of whether or not you can achieve the success that you want out of life. In terms of aiming for success, we need to know what we intend to get. Truth is, most people have no idea what will give them peace of mind, contentment and happiness. Many believe that “enough” money will do the trick but the record shows that when people do have enough, their definition of enough simply shifts – enough turns into “more”. As John Lennon said, money won’t buy you love – nor will it buy you happiness and contentment. These are the priceless things that can only be found within.

So, first of all, you need to have concrete intentions in relation to what success means for you – you need to ensure that your mind is focused on a sustainable outcome that is unrelated to the whims of ordinary everyday life. You need to spend a little time reflecting on your priorities. Like many before you, you might find that your priorities simply don’t coincide with the manner in which you go through each day. If, like the majority of people who have taken part in surveys on goals and objectives, your priorities in life centre around happiness, fun, health and friendship, the truth is that the very same people spend their days focused on “making a living” to the extent that they never achieve their dreams. So, first things first, you need to get some perspective on what really and truly turns you on.

Of course, some people do already have very clear ideas of what they want out of life and work hard towards achieving those objectives. But, if you’re working hard your intentions are all wrong. Hard work, like beauty, is in the mind of the beholder! The “hard” is put into work by those who think it’s difficult, or a chore, or an ordeal to be endured for the financial payback. Even the most mundane job in the world isn’t hard if you’re in the right frame of mind. In other words, your intent or your intentions relate to your state of mind.

Unfortunately, the so-called normal state of mind is skewed towards wasting a vast amount of its energy on thinking useless thoughts like “I don’t like my job”. If you are of this way of thinking, it doesn’t matter how hard you try, you’ll never be a success because the vast majority of your mental energy is going into “I don’t like this job” instead of simply getting on with it. The same mental processes are at play when you feel inadequate, insecure, shy or fed up (make up your own list, it’s pretty long for the normal person!) – our energy is being poured down a black hole of useless thought with the result that there’s precious little energy left to do whatever it is that you’re supposed to be doing. Research puts your available energy at a mere 1% (maybe “mere” is too mild a word) of your total energy, the vast majority having disappeared down that black hole.

Of course, you’re rarely aware that you’re wasting your energy. OK, Monday mornings may be a particular black spot for many normal people and they’ll be aware that there not in peak mental condition. But, for the majority of the time, we simply don’t realize that we’re swirling down the drain – because most our energy is used up by our subconscious mind. And your subconscious mind is pretty important – it’s the part of your mind that thinks it knows what’s happening, it’s the part of your mind that enables you act appropriately in the perceived circumstances. But normal people’s actions are rarely appropriate. In fact, they are rarely actions at all – they are reactions. And those reactions are dictated by outdated “stored knowledge” that the subconscious mind has been obsesses with since your formative years. In other words, when it comes to your subconscious mind, your intentions are anything but honourable – your intentions are pretty much non-existent when it comes to the reality of today. And if you don’t get your head in gear with the reality of the present moment, you’re simply going to waste your time working hard for the rest of your life.

You have to fully intend to do what you’re doing now. This is the moment in which you can change your life – thinking about the future won’t do it, dwelling on the past takes us back in the direction of the aforementioned black hole! In fact – scientific fact that is – there only is here and now and if you’re not present here and now, you’re not living at all. In order to overcome the wayward self-destructive intentions of your subconscious mind, you have to pour more than 1% of your energy into what you’re supposed to be doing now. If that happens to be a job that you think you don’t like, stop thinking that useless thought – just engross yourself in the task in hand. Use all of your senses – see, feel, hear, smell and taste the job. If you’re doing something repetitive, play a game with yourself – manage your movements, compete against the clock, whatever engrosses you in the task. OK, it’s a trick – but your mind has been playing tricks on you all your adult life – time to turn the tables!

And if you really, really hate what you’re doing – nothing is going to change until you do something about it. – just engross yourself in the task in hand. Use all of your senses – see, feel, hear, smell and taste the job. If you’re doing something repetitive, play a game with yourself – manage your movements, compete against the clock, whatever engrosses you in the task. OK, it’s a trick – but your mind has been playing tricks on you all your adult life – time to turn the tables! And if you really, really hate what you’re doing – nothing is going to change until you do something about it.

One way or another, it’s up to you to take real action – something that will not come naturally to you until you start engrossing yourself in the here and now. That is the first real action you must take, you’ve got to get your intentions straight – you’ve got to life today as if you mean it.