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Episode 430 – Starting each day with intention   

• Welcome QFY friends
• Thank you listening in
• I appreciate you
• My goal is that my podcast makes a difference in your life today
• This is an intention
• I just set an intention for myself
• With this intention I am challenging myself to make a quality episode that is insightful for you
• And as I am writing and recording it, this intention stays with me and reminds me of my objective
• It helps me be more focused
• Pretty simple
• Setting an intention is deciding on the direction you want to go
• I feel I start most of my day quite aimlessly
• I let the events of the day carry me
  • My schedule
  • My appointment’s
  • My to-dos
  • And everything else that happens to show up
• Rarely do I decide what I want to get out of my day
• I know you might wonder now – what to do about our responsibilities and the things we don’t feel like doing?
  • Those don’t change – intention or not?
• They don’t
• But how we approach them does
• An intention is a map for my mind
• It aligns my thoughts with my heart
• And it then guides my thoughts and helps them stay focused on where my heart wants to go
• So even if the events in our day are outside of our control, we can still bring right mindset to them
• For example
• I often use the same intention I used earlier – I want to make a positive difference on someone’s life
• But it may not be a day where I am writing or recording a podcast episode
• It may be a mundane day at work with nothing noteworthy going on
• Maybe a dentist appointment after work and then just home to make dinner
• But can you see how I could bring this intention into all of these activities?
• I don’t need to be doing what I love the most in order to fulfill my intention
• On the contrary
• It makes it more challenging to be kind to the dentist, or to go out of my way to do something nice for someone at work or to cook a favorite dish for a family member
• An intention is a reminder for us where we are heading
• My intentions often revolve around the things I am working and want to be better at
• For example
  • May I be patient with the people in my path today
  • Be ok with whatever happens today
  • Give your best effort
  • Smile today
• Setting an intention also helps me be more clear what I actually want
• Its like a mini resolution for the day and I started setting them in the morning, right when I wake up
• I have never been very consistent about them mainly because I don’t meditate regularly anymore
• And that is when I sometimes set the intention – during or after my mediation practice
• But without meditation, I didn’t set an intention
• And I also noticed a change
• I used to be able to jump out of bed quicker
• Maybe I am more tired from my evening workouts, but now it takes me a bit to get up
• But my mind is awake so much quicker than my body and it starts working
• I begin to think of the strangest things and often lay there longer than necessary just thinking random stuff
• A waste of time and energy
• Now that I started playing with intentions – my thoughts don’t run wild anymore
• I set my mind on one objective for the day and then I get up
• If intention is a word you cant get your head around, try purpose
• Ask yourself:
• What will I do today to live true to my purpose?
• That’s a question I also sometimes try to answer
•  
• Intentions are not goals with a timeline and a measurable outcome
• But you can make your intention your one and most important thing for the day that you would like to get done
• I use my planner for that and I prefer to use intentions to just get my mind centered
• Intentions are more like the fuel behind my goals, the motivation and the inspiration
• But you can use them in whichever it works for you
• If you are someone who procrastinates and struggles to get things done – maybe by setting a daily Get-it-done goal in the form of an intention will work
•  
• Intentions provide us with reminders of how we want to live your life
• For me, they are about how I want to show up in the world
• Without those reminders, we rarely think about our behavior
• Being kind, generous, patient, and so forth – not the first thing on our mind in the morning
• More like – what do we need to get done today?
• That is why I keep them focused on my being
• My quest for myself
• They are easy to do
• They only take seconds yet I have already noticed a difference on how much more present I am during the day
• I have my intention more present in my mind
• I notice how it directs my actions subconsciously
• Today for example,
• I was packing up to leave the office for the day, and I wont be back for over a week as I have travel coming up
• I was cleaning it up a bit and I thought about a person in my office with whom I recently started working a bit closer
• Her and I are actually going to a conference together next week
• And I noticed how she is always at work early and often stays late
• She doesn’t have her own office and yet she works with our customers and is often on the phone
• She was still there as I was getting ready to leave and I stopped by her desk on my way out and offered her my office for use while I am gone
• Not a major act of kindness, but also not a thought that normally comes to me
• And my intention this morning:
  • Make a difference for someone
• Coincidence?
• Maybe
• But I have noticed that reminding myself daily of the person I want to be helps me stay closer in my thoughts and actions to that objective
• Versus – only remembering it when I screwed up again
•  
• My goal with these 3 episodes this week was to bring us back on track
• Reading, mediation and setting intentions my not be something you had in mind
• But I cant emphasize enough how helpful all 3 activities can be in getting you closer to all your other objectives
•  
• Reading expands our minds
• Mediation calms our busy mind and
• A daily intention helps to focus the mind
• There you have it
• Give it a try
• One of them or all 3 of them, and let me know how it goes.

Much love