How setting intentions leads to flow in business

In this article Kate Griffiths explains why intentions are so much more powerful than goals and how you can make the magic work for you.

At the beginning of every year and let’s face it we have only just started the year of the horse (31 Jan) most coaches talk about goal setting.  I don’t and you know why because more often than not it doesn’t work.

I found myself recently at a group full of coaches that I had been invited to attend and I witnessed goal setting gone mad.  It was fascinating and scary in equal measure.  Some of them set goals for the week or even each day and feel that they are not reaching their potential if they don’t do this almost religiously.  They believe that it is modelling what their clients want as it would appear that they use a model such as GROW as the primary tool when coaching – the first step of which is for the client to set a goal for the session.

All that said the answer is not about advocating a do nothing approach as that can easily lead to drifting.  What I will do is blast out the water the assumption that if you don’t have a goal you will just drift through life and not make the most of it.  Why is that?

Goals come from the doing mode.  We spend way too much time in that space as it is.  Think about it?  How driven are you?  Is your mind your servant or your keeper?  Do you feel you need to be productive in order to have value?  If that is you then you are not alone, many buy into this idea.  It is part of the current paradigm in terms of the way we do business and yet it is counter productive.  How so?  I remember when I set up my business I set myself a goal in the form of a monthly income target.  Then everything started to go wrong.  I was not reaching my target and I felt more and more miserable.  As my spirits sank so did my confidence and so too did my impact on potential customers.  It was a downward spiral and it took quite a lot of work to shift that perspective.  Sound familiar.

What’s the alternative you might be asking?  What I choose to do is set intentions.  They can be as powerful as goals but we tend to hold them more lightly.  They do not hold you in a vice like grip; they have a playful energy about them if you have gone within to listen to your inner teacher and created your intention from there.  This process can get amazing results.  This is because intentions are linked to core values and beliefs and your feelings.  So just imagine what happens when you align your beliefs with positive feelings and an intention – the wow factor.  Intentions are not woo woo: the word has a similar meaning to goal – aim, intent, purpose but here’s something you probably did not know the medical meaning.  In medicine intention is defined as the healing process of a wound.

I love using stories to explain what I am talking about so I thought that I would share with you the intention that I set for myself in 2014 and what has happened since I set it so that you can see the powerful way it can work.  I went into meditation and invited my soul in so that I could really feel its vibration in my body because it is your soul that yearns for you to live your true purpose whilst you are here on earth.  Through that process the following intention came to me:

I intend to experience prosperity by being a source of prosperity for others.

Prosperity does not just mean wealth it comes from the Latin for hopeful and full of possibilities.  I know how true this is for me because it really resonated with the clients and colleagues I have shared it with.  Not only that I have some real shifts in what is happening on the outside which just shows that if we tend to our inner world, we allow stuff to manifest for us externally.

In financial terms, which for some, is the key to success, I have been shortlisted to provide some very fulfilling facilitation and coaching work for clients that offer a much needed service in the world.  If I secure that contract I will be well on the way to making my stretch target for this year.  Believe me that feels good when it is still only February.

Other things are also beginning to happen.  I was at a community networking meeting this morning.  I met some fabulous people and in talking to a couple of guys who run amazing cultural venue in Luton, I came up with a great way for them to raise the profile and continue to build up a more positive image of Luton.  I am thrilled to be involved in it with them.  There is no direct gain for me but I know that it is going to have ramifications for many and two people have already signed up for the event even though it has not been launched yet.  So that’s an example of how I am being a source of prosperity for others.

If you have not set up an intention for 2014 yet then I hope this article has shown you how it could work for you.  If you are now inspired to do so but don’t know how to do that, get in touch I can help you.  It is part of what I do and I so want you to experience the magic and power of it for yourself.

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Kate Griffiths works  with individuals and business owners to create more ease and flow in their lives.  Clients include conscious business owners and leaders who recognise that the old paradigm way of doing things does not work and want support in determining  what the new ways of doing business look like.  She is passionate about creating conversations that lead to change and has developed her own process to do that called connection through conversation.  Contact her to attend the next one on 27 March in Woodbridge.  She also teaches mindfulness so if you want to get your week off to a great start, book a place on her next four week course starting on 10 March.  If you prefer, get in touch with Kate to set up an initial consultation to explore working one to one with her.