I was interviewed for a podcast last week and it reminded me of an experience I had where I set an intention and things didn’t work out the way I had hoped. If you checked out the podcast interview I did with Leonie Dawson that I shared in last week’s post. If you haven’t checked it out yet, here’s the story below.
If you’re unfamiliar with Leonie Dawson she is the creator of workbooks that help you plan your year, both in your business and personal life. One of the sections in this workbook is to list 100 things I want to accomplish before the year is complete. One of the things I wrote on my list was that I wanted to be seen on network television. This was a big deal for me because I had appeared on local television several times, and thought it was time to increase my visibility.
I should mention at this point that in June of that year, there was an explosion in the neighborhood. Two people died in that explosion, which was a miracle considering that it happened when kids were heading home from school and it happened on a residential street.
Needless to say, the media was everywhere when the explosion happened. When I wrote that I wanted to be on network television, it was six months after the incident. I took my dog out for one of our daily walks and about halfway through the walk (after Lulu had done her business), I saw a woman run across the street towards me with a cameraman in tow.
There I was, holding Lulu’s leash in one hand and a poo bag in another as I shared my thoughts about the explosion for a network news station. At the time I didn’t have cable so I never did see the interview, but I did get calls from friends and colleagues who saw me on the news. Clearly, this is not what I was expecting when I wrote appearing on network television in my goal book! It was a big lesson for me in being clear and specific about my goals.
I remember listening to Louise Hay on CD where she talks about setting intentions. In her talk, she says that we should treat our intentions like placing an order at a restaurant. She said that when we place our order, we don’t follow the server to make sure that the order is placed correctly or that the kitchen prepares it right. We place our order and have faith that we’re going to get what we ordered. She reminds us that if we get something that we didn’t want or expect, then it meant that we weren’t clear in our order. After doing that interview about the explosion, I realized that I wasn’t clear enough in setting my intentions.
Maybe I wasn’t clear about what I wanted because I had doubts about how I was going to make it happen. When this happens now, I reminded myself that it isn’t my job to always figure out how my goals, dreams, or hopes will manifest. My job is to be clear about what I want and remember that when I’ve done this effectively in the past, the how reveals itself when I focus on the ultimate goal.
There’s nothing wrong with dreaming big and shooting for the stars. The key is to be clear on why you want what you want and hold a vision for what your life will look like when that vision becomes a reality. The more details you can add to that vision and the more specific you can be, the better your likelihood of making that goal a reality.
Are you ready? ♥