—video transcript—

I have a model I want to share with you. If you are pursuing a goal or if you’re trying to set some new standards for your business or daily life, I think this model may be of help to you. It’s really simple to lock in on and simple to remember. It’s also extremely applicable. So here we go. It’s called IDEA. And think of the letters in the word “idea” as I share this with you.

The first letter idea is intention. In the world of personal development or what I like to call self-leadership, we hear reference to, very often, the concept of intention, intentionality, setting your intention. It’s incredibly important for so many things that we do and pursue,. The meaning of the word intention, of course, is purpose or aim, focus. And actually I’m going to pull up the dictionary version just so if you think of the word intention, and that starts with that letter “I” of IDEA, intention: aim, purpose, intent, objective, object, goal, target, end, design, plan, scheme, resolve, resolution, determination. They also include wish desire, ambition, idea, dream, aspiration, or hope.

So the intention behind something is incredibly important. I often hear people referencing the importance of intention as if, if you have intention that is setting your course and that is basically all you need or the most important thing you need. But just like the phrase, “knowledge is power” is inaccurate because it’s the application of knowledge that is truly powerful,. having an intention is a far cry from living out the intention. So in the concept or the model of IDEA, we start with the intention. It’s an important and valuable and necessary place to start, but we’re going to take it beyond. So you start with intention that can be relevant to a goal–a personal goal, a fitness goal, a business goal, a relationship goal, truly anything. What is the intention? How are you going to spend the day? How are you going to make the most of your time? Intention.

Next we go to D, and there are two words that align with the letter D here. The first is decision. If you have connected or followed with me for any length of time, I hope you have received the message of the importance of deciding in advance about what ever you are able to decide ahead of time. Deciding in advance sets you on a course, sets you on a path, helps you simplify what you’re looking to accomplish. So with your intention in mind, you can actually quite easily start making some decisions in advance that are going to support your intention. So I: intention, D: decision…

And alongside the D of decision is the D of direction. One of the decisions you’re making is pointing–to point in the correct direction that you’re going to go to pursue and to support the intention that you’ve set.

Decision and direction are actually very action-oriented; they are foundational to support the intention that you’ve set.

From there we go to E. E represents emotion. We, as thinking human beings with large prefrontal cortexes, we have the capability to think and then generate emotion to support our intentions. So this is an incredibly important aspect of making that intention come to life. Emotion you can generate is going to be extremely helpful to keep you moving in the direction that you’ve set and keep you moving in the support of the decisions that you have already made to support your intention.

You can actually choose your emotions. You guys, a topic for another time is the fact that we are actually not our emotions. If you are feeling up or feeling down, that is truly a feeling you are having, you are not up or down, sad or happy. This is an emotion that you are experiencing. You are separate from your emotions. Therefore you have the capability, with that beautiful prefrontal cortex of yours, to generate that emotion, to fuel your pursuit, your goal, your desire.

Alongside emotion, you are generating energy. Yes, another E word. So we’ve got emotion and energy. You’ve got to put energy behind your intention. Low energy may not be what you need in the moment to make that intention become a reality. So emotion actually often aligns or sparks or generates that energy that you so much need to bring the intention to life.

And from there with energy and all of those other things in place, you’re going to be able to activate your awareness, pay attention, and take action. That’s the A combination of the word IDEA that I’m sharing with you here in this model.

I want to activate your awareness. Now that you have started your decision-making and you’ve set your direction and you’re generating that emotion and then accompanying energy that you need to sort of support and make your intention a reality. You need to actively become aware of things that are going to be perhaps impediments, things that will be supportive of what you’re doing. But you need to come awake, be aware; that will allow you to intellectually and intelligently pay attention. We are going to be bombarded by so many things throughout our days as we are pursuing our intent. With the awareness, you can intelligently pay attention and then the all-important take action accordingly.

So we have IDEA: intention, decision, direction, emotion, energy, awareness, attention, action. From there, you have the formula to make that intention a reality. You can bring your IDEA to life.

Thanks for being here, guys!