What's Your Brass Ring?

“Inherent in every intention and desire, is the mechanics for its fulfillment ... Intention and desire have infinite power.” – Deepak Chopra

We’ve written a lot about intentions, their characteristics, and why they are crucial to any business or business person. But, given that knowledge, how do you create intentions that are specific to you and your company? How do you know if you are pursuing the right brass ring?

As usual, we will answer this question with more questions. Here’s what you should ask yourself as you craft your own personal intentions:

1. What is your biggest problem? What is the elephant in your company’s living room? Are you losing money? Are you working 27 hours a day? Are your employees performing at half capacity and spending the other half of their time complaining? Write down your three biggest problems.

2. Would solving those problems give you what you want? First you have to get clear on what you want. Do you want more branch offices? More time off? Do you want to sell your company? Get specific. Then look at your three biggest problems. If you solved the profit problem, would that give you enough cash flow to open another office? You need to connect the dots between solving your problems and your desired end result.

3. What is standing in the way of you solving the problem? If the problem is you aren’t producing enough product, perhaps what’s standing in the way is purchasing more equipment. If your employees aren’t performing, perhaps they need timely reviews and clear job descriptions. Write down everything you can think of that is standing in the way of you solving your three biggest problems.

4. You don’t have to know how to do it! – If the solution to your problem is a 25% increase in profit, you may scratch your head and think “I have no idea where that will come from.” Great! When you don’t know how to fix it, you open yourself up to a world of possibilities you may never have considered. Don’t shut down or give up because you don’t know how to do something. The biggest breakthroughs come from the ability to consider new ways of doing things.

5. Three is a good number. – We ask all our clients to select three intentions to work on. It’s not too many and not too few. When you are in action on three intentions you can really begin to see the impact these actions will have on the company and your results.

Look at the three things you want out of your business. Now look at your list of problems and what’s standing in your way. What three intentions can you create that will both solve your problems and give you what you want? For instance, if you take on an intention to increase sales by 20%, what will that give you? Will that increase profit? Will it allow you to pay off your bills? Will it get you the promotion you’ve been wanting? Be clear on where you want your intentions to take you, and then build the winning solutions that will be the path to your success.

Are you ready to win?

The Road to Success

“Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it.” – Warren Bennis, American Scholar and Founder of The Leadership Institute

There are plenty of old sayings about good intentions. Some are positive, some aren’t. At Possibilities Unlimited, we firmly believe that the road to success is paved with good intentions.

In last week’s blog, we talked about the importance of creating intentions for your business, and how intentions become the tools that drive your actions. This week, we’ll look at the characteristics of a good intention. Before you chart your action plan, you want to make sure that you have intentions that will get you where you want to go.

So what does a good intention look like?

1. It is specific and measurable. Nothing is more important than having a specific and measurable intention. People say they want to make lots of money, or they want lots of sales. Well, how much is “lots”? Lots may mean different things to different people. Is it $100,000? $1,000,000? Having a specific and measurable intention makes the target very clear, and that makes the path to the target clear as well. When you can measure your progress against a specific intention, you can adjust your actions to keep moving toward your goal.
   
2. It is unprecedented. A good intention should be one that causes you to stretch and be open to new possibilities. It should be something that you’ve never done before. If you decide that you want to increase your sales 5%, and you have met that target before, then you already know how to do that. A good intention should be unprecedented, something that will really create opportunities to give you what you want. Because you’ve never done it before, an unprecedented intention gives you access to actions and resources you never before considered. It’s the essence of getting you outside of your box.
3. It is unpredictable. Consider the example above, where someone sets an intention of a 5% increase in sales. Let’s say this person has accomplished a 5% increase in sales the past five years. He or she knows exactly what actions will produce that result. Maybe it’s three more phone calls a week or an extra hour of networking. Very predictable. A good intention should require actions that can’t be predicted from past results. It should shake up the status quo somewhat and force you to re-assess the resources, timing and benchmarks you will need in order to deliver.
4. It should be uncomfortable. You know you’ve created a good intention if it the thought of it makes you uncomfortable! If you commit to your intention and then ask yourself, “What have I done?”, then it is probably a good intention. The best intentions will keep you on the edge of your seat a bit, wondering how to get started, where to go to help, what to do next. The more uncomfortable you are, the greater your desire to stay in action and get results.
5. They are future-based. A good intention is not based on past performance or actions. It is based on a new future that you are creating for yourself and your business. You can’t get there by doing the same things you’ve always done. A good intention should be the catalyst for trying new things, and following a new path to breakthrough results.

Now take a look at the intentions you have set for your business. Will they really take you where you want to go? Or will they give you more of the same? Are your intentions specific and measurable and future-based? Do they make you uncomfortable? If your intentions don’t share these characteristics, then revise them or come up with new ones. Because if you’re going to win the game of business, you need a path paved with good intentions.

Are you ready to win?

Let's Be Intentional

“We wanted Nike to be the world’s best sports and fitness company. Once you say that, you have a focus. You don’t end up making wing tips or sponsoring the next Rolling Stones world tour.” – Philip Knight, Founder, Nike

We are halfway through January, and it’s time to get serious about your intentions for your business. Have you thought about what you want to accomplish this year? Where do you want your business to go? What do you need your business to do in order for you to have what you want? If you haven’t put pen to paper and figured out your business road map, your intentions, the time to take action is now.

So what is an intention anyway? How is it different from a goal? An intention is a tool that you use to drive the actions you take in your business. It’s a constant presence in your daily operations. Goals are lines in the distant future sand. You either cross over them or you don’t, and often you measure your success or failure based on that one moment.

An intention is more of a living thing. It is the concept through which you drive all your actions. An intention causes you to look at everything about your business that will have to stretch, adapt and produce in order to accomplish it. And an intention encourages you to celebrate all the breakthroughs along the way.

So where do intentions come from?

1. Intentions are future-based. This means they come from an idea about future performance, about where the company would have to be in order to give you what you want. Intentions are not based on past performance, or past mistakes. We create intentions based on what we want the situation to be.

2. Intentions are born from possibilities. No matter what the circumstances are, there is always a possibility for your business. Possibilities transcend circumstances, and are the spark that can ignite necessary change. Intentions come from the ability to identify possibilities for your business.

3. Intentions should deliver what you want. If you want your revenues to be $5mm and for you to be able to take off two months a year, an intention that will only lead to $1mm in revenue is not the right intention. Your intentions must be directly tied to what you want.

4. Intentions are the tools that dictate your actions. Once you are clear on your intentions, every action you take in your business should be an action that will play a role in delivering on that intention. You must remain accountable to that intention. The intention becomes your partner in making the daily decisions that move your business forward.

5. Intentions create access to breakthroughs. Intentions force you to consider new ways of doing things, to imagine what’s possible, to focus on what you need to deliver. When business people are operating in that state of looking at what’s possible, of getting above the problems, breakthroughs occur. You can see that change produces results, and the more often you produce results, the more committed you become to your intention.

What are your intentions for your business? Do you have any? Are they your partners in your daily actions? Will they give you what you want? If you would like some help developing intentions for your business, give us a call. We are masters at finding possibilities where they don’t seem to exist. We’ll help you sharpen the tools that will create change in your business in 2011 and set you on a path to win the game.

Are you ready to win?