Your intention drives your attention.
I talk about this a lot, and with good reason. Showing up as your best when the stakes are high, or there's no do over matters. If you're not clear on your intention, you're going to end up holding the short end of the stick. Why? Because the person with the strongest intention, the most prepared, is typically the person who gets what they want.
Your intention drives your attention.
Why does this matter? You get what you're looking for. That's how your brain works. It filters out the things you see as less important and pulls the things you see as more important into focus. It's a double edged sword. Used for positive and negative intentions. Whether you're aware or not. For example, when you're looking for the negative, that's what you're going to experience. Maybe it's the employee who seems to be underperforming, or someone in another area of your life who always seems to be difficult. If you look for underperformance, or the difficult behaviours, you will see them. Luckily this works the other way too, look for opportunities of good performance, and you'll be more likely to find them as well.
You also get what you prepare for. Think of it as setting an intention.
Too busy to set an intention? Easier to just fly by the seat of your pants and hope for the best?
Here's what can happen... you show up and you go into autopilot which means default behaviours. Maybe your default behaviours will be useful in that particular situation and maybe they won't. It might end up being a bit of a crap shoot and if you're looking to progress and grow do you really want to leave things to chance?
You need to ask yourself: Is it a risk worth taking?
When you're intentional about what your desired outcome is for a meeting or conversation, your brain does the same thing - filters out the things you see as less important and pulls the things you want into focus.
Here's the thing, it really doesn't take a long time to prepare. More preparation may be better depending on the situation however, if all you have is 5 minutes between meetings it could be as simple as stopping, taking a breath, and asking yourself: What is the outcome I want for this meeting, what would success look like?
That's it. Asking and answering those two questions.That in and of itself will have you thinking differently.
You'll be priming your brain to look for the opportunities that you want and you'll be more likely to notice them.
Are you ready?
Let's get to it...
Your challenge...
Think of something right now, professional or personal, where you would like to be more prepared and clear on your desired outcome.
Got something?
Great. Let's try something here.
Start by taking a couple of intentional breaths into your nose for a count of four, and out through pursed lips for a count of eight. Right out of the gate, being intentional about setting an intention.
Repeat that a couple times if you want.
Next, imagine the situation playing out as you would like it to. Really, stop and picture what it would look, sound and feel like.
Notice how you were behaving.
Your behaviour is a powerful tool.
What skills and strengths were you leaning on.
You'll probably notice a couple bubble up.
What did you believe to be true about the situation and the outcome you wanted?
Did you head in believing that both you and the other person had good intentions for the situation?
All of these are small and powerful ways to get clear on what you want. Think of it as a mini dress rehearsal. When you think things through your brain recognizes them as familiar and that's useful when it comes to the real conversation.
Give it a try!
Are you clear enough on your intentions? Contact me
Cheers,
Ann
What are you paying attention to?