Set a big intention: Get bigger than imagined results!

I’m a staunch believer that whatever it is that you have, and focus on, is what you’ll get more of. For that reason, at the beginning of the year, I made a list of "What I have that I want more of in 2009." My intention was to have an easy-to-refer-to list that I’d focus my attention on regularly, resulting in greater attentiveness to the aspects of my life that I wanted to grow. As the year has unfolded, my “things I want more of” have come pouring in. I’d like to share a particular example with you because it’s been such a big project and it’s used all my horizons of focus (that is, all the levels of setting goals that David Allen talks about in Getting Things Done).

My "What I have that I want more of in 2009" list resides at 10K (that is, the list of projects to be completed in one year or less) because I want to review it often. One item on the "want more of" list was, "fulfilling marriage and abundant life." Below that were items like "generosity with time, talent, treasure," and "hike with dogs," and "fitness: health and wellbeing."

Because I have two very active dogs (Big Dog at nine years old can still easily hike ten or twelve miles a day!), I started tracking the miles I log with my “boys.” My efforts to hike everyday with my dogs touched other areas of my “what I want more of” list, too, like spiritual (“experience silence, nature, awe, and joy”) as well as the expected category of fitness. When I began racking up many miles, I wondered how I could derive a greater sense of meaning and purpose from my hikes–this connected me with my list of roles (20K for you GTD’ers); specifically, my role as "human being: community member." I asked myself if I could use my hikes to raise money for a worth cause.

After some thinking, I chose to go for a big event, the Breast Cancer 3-Day, as my goal, which then went on my 10K list as a separate item: "Complete Breast Cancer 3-day in Seattle, Sept 11-13." Following the connections in my mindmap, this one item is connected at next-actions, 10K, 20K, and 50K (life purpose; here, “make the world a better place”).

One big take-home message here is the power of intention. I set the intention to focus on simple aspects of my life that I already had and wanted more of. As a result,

• My aerobic fitness is tremendous,
• I have great endurance,
• I have lost 8 pounds,
• My dogs are calm, healthy, and slim, 
• My friends and my husband often go hiking with me
• I’ve seen amazing natural areas and enjoyed great natural beauty
• I’ve raised over $1500 dollars in the fight against breast cancer.

Finally, I’ve connected with friends, family, and total strangers in ways I never imagined possible. So many people’s lives are affected by cancer–and in this small way, people are able to make a contribution toward ending this terrible disease. If you, or someone you know, has been touched by breast cancer, I invite you to help by making a small, tax-deductible donation. If you’re a reader of my blog, and you’ve found something here that’s helped you, please make a small contribution to my journey as a way of saying thanks–it would really mean a lot to me to know that you've enjoyed and benefited from my work!