The Awesome Power of Intention
We all have a boulder to roll up the hill… the question is how do you want to roll it?
There’s a small word in the self-care/improvement/reinvention world with huge implications that I’m only just now coming to understand… Intention.
Getting my head around the concept of intention has taken me far longer than it probably should have. Not because I’m dense (although I am) but because I’ve always dodged the question that is at the center of intention.
How do you want to live your life?
If you had asked me that question less than a year ago I would have gotten a vacant, far away look in my eyes for a few moments, then shrugged my shoulders and said “Uhhhhhhhhh I dunno? Let me get back to you on that.”
Now though… I am laser focused on building a creative life. I still don’t quite know what the F that means, but I’m laser focused on it.
Dude… How many months has it been and you STILL don’t know?
Stop rushing me Snarky Voice in my Head!! Figuring out how to be creative takes time! Or well… at least it USED to take time. Now, sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms mean I can just type a few words into a chat field and create images that rival the masters.
Ohhhh is this gonna be a rant?? I love it when you rant!!
Uhhhhhhh no, Snarky… this will NOT be a “rant”. Old Rob would definitely do that but Rob 2.0 prefers a more thoughtful approach.
Boooooooooooooooooooo!
Quiet you! I’m trying to collect my thoughts for a coherent look into the idea of “Intention”.
Then stop talking to yourself and get on with it!
I’ve always been a creative person. I get it from my mother… I was that kid looking out the window then doodling in his notebook, or drumming on his desk, or singing to himself in class instead of paying attention. Teachers would say that I lacked focus, but that wasn’t it at all. I was incredibly focused on that doodle or the music in my head. But the 19th century education system we’ve been saddled with doesn’t value that kind of focus, so I was labeled as distracted and my grades were normally mediocre at best.
I discovered the idea of being a Creative Professional by accident after meandering through college with no real purpose. Then, for 20 years I worked in a variety of mediums to pay the rent. Newsletters, flyers, local newspapers, magazine ads, fashion photography retouching, entertainment advertising, 3D animation, video editing, teaching all of those things… It went by in a blur… I was working almost 7 days a week most of the time, but what made that time go by in a blur was that I had focus. I love the process of making things and teaching about the process of making things… I get easily lost in there.
That frantic 20-year nose to the creative grindstone spree was not without consequences… I was burned out in my mid-forties blindly jumping from one freelance gig to the next with no long-term view of where I was heading. Then an incredible opportunity came along that gave me a chance to jump out of the freelance hamster wheel. It was so amazing that I didn’t realize I was jumping into a completely different hamster wheel.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire!
Hmmm… that’s a much better metaphor… Turns out that I don’t suck at organizing, analyzing and communicating. I get that from my father. But the jump I made to the corporate world was definitely a new type of hamster wheel… Meetings, email, slide decks and sooooooooo many spreadsheets. In just a few short years, I’d almost completely forgotten that I love to create.
The jump from freelance to corporate was very necessary. At the time I was burned out and stuck. I desperately needed to do something different, and the Universe gave it to me. But… the Universe is not without a sense of irony… I got stuck there too and it took a massive shock to my mental system to bust me out of that groove.
Dooooooood… you’ve already written about that… What about the future?
Dammit Snarky, you should know by now that long winded context is kinda my thing!! This is the place in the article where I turn the corner and come back to the point…
So here I am… my previous groove is completely busted (in a good way) and I’m building a new groove that brings us back to the initial question…
How do I want to live my life?
The short answer is “Curiously, Creatively and Constructively”.
Uhhhhh… alliterate much?
LOL Snarky… I didn’t sit around trying to come up with “Rob G’s Three C’s for Life” but alliteration and the rule of threes are powerful things and will not be denied.
Living Curiously means that I want to learn new things across a wide range of subjects as often as possible… I want to ask questions and then actively listen to the answers. I want to meet new people with a smile and eyebrows raised in interest… I do NOT want to be afraid of physical, social or ideological “otherness”.
Living Creatively means that I want to bring ideas into the world in a variety of formats… Visual ideas in the form of still, moving and animated images… Written ideas in the form of this blog and other book projects I’m working on… and this last bit is important… I want to create these ideas myself OR by working alongside other humans. (no… artificial intelligence art generators do NOT count)
Living Constructively means that I want to work with anyone who’s willing to actively build the future. What comes next must be a collective expression of human energy. What comes next should not be an accident, and it definitely should not be determined by wealthy oligarchs completely disconnected from reality and their own humanity.
These three “C’s” add up to my personal concept of “Intention”. For a long time I was hung up on the jargon of it, but that loaded word is just the fancy therapist's way of answering the question “How do you want to live your life?”
Each of us needs to answer that question for themselves. Although you’re welcome to them, these are my own ideas of how I want to live. They may or may not align with your core being, but putting in the work to understand your core being is the most important thing you can do for yourself and for the world.
But Roooooooooooob… How the F do I answer the question for myself?
I wish I had a glib, alliterated answer that would fit on a t-shirt or a nice mug. But, you need to put in a buttload of work. (Actually, that would fit on a t-shirt or mug… hmmmmm) Mostly, you need to start asking yourself questions like…
What do I value?
What brings me joy?
Why does something resonate with me?
There’s a million questions, but you will have to have difficult conversations with yourself. And you will be confused by some of the answers, but the process will be enlightening, terrifying, reaffirming, cathartic and amazing…
Most of us have been meandering through life with no direction. I say this from decades of personal experience. Reacting to the world instead of moving purposefully through it is how we got here. Connecting with your core values, with your intention, is about moving forward.
When you become more connected to your core being or values, it will give you a powerful lens that you can use to examine everything you do. “Does this thing align with who I am?” That is not something I could have answered with conviction a year ago. Now though, I have those three C’s to guide my answer with a simple if/then statement…
If that thing the Universe places in my path does not align with one or all of those three C’s then, it is not for me.
It’s amazing how most of the marketing messages I see now look like complete and utter nonsense. They just don’t work on me because my well defined ideas of who and how I want to be have inoculated me against ideas that don’t align with my intention.
The clarity of thought that comes with the lens of intention is exhilarating. But it can also be kind of obnoxious. The 4th C on that list should NOT be “Condescending”. Although I want everyone in the world to live with intention, we all are on our own journey, and we are all at different points on that journey. I’m asking everyone who reads this to hold me accountable on that one.
Did any of this resonate with you? Is there a 5th C? (Rob is full of Crap) let us know in the comments.
And since you made it this far here’s a timelapse of how I can supervise myself pushing the boulder of life up the hill of life.
