—video transcript—

I speak often about the importance of deciding in advance. Any time you are able to make a decision before you arrive at a set of circumstances or a decision point, you are empowered to keep and take the lead. This can be done in so many broad categories of life. You can decide now how you will be treated in work and personal relationship environments. You can decide now how you are going to spend the rest of the week in terms of productivity and peacefulness and the things you wish to accomplish, and the ways you desire to rest. Even if circumstances come out of nowhere and life throws you curve balls, having the decision made in advance keeps you solid and grounded and able to navigate intelligently and purposefully to stay on track with that which you have already decided.

Today. I felt led to go down the etymology rabbit hole.

Etymology is the study of the origins of words, like going back to the original Latin, that led us to the word that we use so commonly today. And I did so because I had heard someone speaking about the word intention and the power of intention. Obviously, I love to focus on the value of decisions and, in alliance with intention, decisions and intention are a power combination that can lead you in the right direction. So I went down that rabbit hole and looked up the origins of these three words, decision, intention, direction- – D I D – DID. And I wanted to walk you through them so that you can lock and load them in your nervous system and your brain so that you can use them just like I choose to do. It’s very helpful. So I’m going to go to the Google and read you a little bit.

First we have decision; decision is such a cool word. The deepest origin that we know of for the word decision relates to the phrase to cut off. Think about that. When you’re deciding, you’re clearing, you’re pruning, you’re cutting away the things that don’t align with what you desire. So if you look at the deepest root, it’s actually really cool. It’s not just to cut off, but it’s also to strike…implying at a stroke. So the decision can happen quickly. I’ve actually blogcast about this previously, that in life, sometimes we think certain decisions should be arduous and labor-intensive and that we should mull it over for months and months. And in all honesty, when we decide, we can decide. And when you look at the root meaning of this word, where this word decision.decide comes from, it relates to cutting at a strike point. Boom, you can decide.

Now, it’s very much our human nature to overthink certain things. I can get into some neuroscience behind that. And I actually have in previous content that I’ve shared with you; I won’t do that now because I want to stay on track with this key point, but understand that even though there may be that tendency to want to overthink, to mull, to assess, um, analysis paralysis, you can decide–a decision to cut off, just strikin the moment can happen. Then, couple that with intention.

The word intention comes deeply from–this is so interesting–the Latin intention:, “intentionem” – stretching out straining, exertion effort, attention. Obviously, this has evolved today–the way we use it to mean a desire, a will, a wish, that which is intended (a little bit of circular definition there, in that intended uses the word; it is a blend with that word intention). But, uh, looking back at that deep root to see the exertion, the effort, the attention, like it’s getting us in a direction. And then when you align that with how it’s evolved, purpose, design, aim, object, will, wish, desire.

So imagine your decisions aligning with your intention. Wow. Sometimes that decision can help define your intention. Sometime your intention can help define the decision. Those can work in such harmony.
And then when you couple that with the direction, this is where figuratively and sometimes literally the rubber meets the road because, with decisions that’s more action-oriented and intention which is that set desire that wish that focus, you have to put it in action and direction. So it all has to come together and the word direction. Um, we know it to mean the action of directing or guiding again, a bit circular, but it’s putting us on a course, on a path, to set straight, arrange, give a particular direction to again, circular, but you get the point.

We’re headed somewhere. It’s focusing, uh, aiming the ship in a certain direction. So you know where you’re going with that decision with that intention, it needs the direction so that you can then take action. All these things need to work together.

Start with the little things. I’ll go back to something I speak about quite often. Let’s look at your digital life. You’re staring maybe right now at thousands of emails unread in your most important business inbox. Make a decision. Boom, strike it at this point right now to end this day with no more than 10 new unread emails. I know you’ve got thousands in there, but if you could just look at what has come in today and whittle it down to just 10 you’re, you’re heading in the right direction, your intention may be to become digitally decluttered, to be more productive and get in front of all that communication coming in. So you decide no more than 10 left unread or untouched in my inbox today, we’ll deal with the thousands that are in there later, and then you’re in the right direction.

It’s a very powerful thing that can be applied again to so many things. It could be how you organize your home. It could be how you organize your calendar. Oh my goodness. Imagine the decision to not add anything else to your calendar for the rest of the year. Like whatever you’ve got going, you’ve made commitments to you’ll carry those through, but not adding one more group, one more committee, one more class, nothing else goes on that calendar. You decide now because your intention is to do your best with what you’ve got. And now you’re in the direction of making that happen. Just a few examples, direction, intention, decisions, all working together. D I D.

Thanks for being here!