"sizzle" Your new year's intentions

In my last  message to you, I shared a few tips about making and keeping New Year’s Intentions.

Today, I’d like to go a little further and talk about the Vision you need to hitch those intentions to in order to keep yourself continually inspired to move toward them.

This year, like years past, too many people have cobbled together the same old new year’s resolutions.  They go something like this: Lose Weight, Get Out of Debt, etc.

Both of these resolutions are problematic.  First, because they are worded in a manner that focuses on what you don’t want (i.e. the extra weight, the credit card debt).  And, simply by that token, whenever you think of either of these goals, you’re going to automatically think about the thing you don’t want.

How un-motivating is that?

I don’t know about you, but I’m not inspired to merely “lose weight”.  And, truthfully, how much fun can it be to “get out of debt”?

But even if the resultions were worded more positively, such as “Get in great shape,” or “Become financially self-sufficient”, they’re still not great goals because, frankly, they’re a little boring.

Another problem with boring goals such as “lose weight” and “get out of debt”, is those resolving to do these things often put them before other, larger and more inspiring intentions.  Even worse, they often make the setting of the bigger, more inspiring goals contingent on the meeting of the little, uninspiring ones.

By now you’re probably thinking about someone you know who once attained a goal like “quit smoking” or “get a better job”.  Sure, the goals are reachable if you can keep yourself motivated.  But why not give yourself a better shot at attaining your intentions by making them Inspiring?

I used to work in the restuarant industry, and in the restaurant business, there’s a saying “Sell the sizzle.”  This means, decribe the steak (or veggie fajita) so beautifully that the customer can practically hear it sizzling.  Why do less for your own goals and dreams?

The first step in doing this is to go to the end of the line.  What this means is to ask yourself what you really want.  In other words, what is the biggest and best thing you can wish for in the area of health and fitness or finances?  And what if, from there, you could tie it to your overall vision for your life.

A client I spoke to recently changed her intention from ”lose 30 pounds” to “I look fabulous in my wedding dress and a size 6 bikini on my honeymoon trip to Fiji.”

Sounds a bit more inspiring, huh?

Plus, it ties together two important areas of her life, and it gives her a couple of great visuals to focus on as she moves toward her intention. 

This particular client is also motivated to participate in water sports such as surfing, kayaking and diving, which she also included in her visualizations, treasure maps and written intentions. 

When she switched her mindset from “lose weight” (and wait until the weight is off before getting to do the fun stuff), to creating a great vision of herself having fun and looking great, she began to get really inspired.  And I have no doubt in my mind that she will achieve her intention--because she is already busy living it!

So, the two keys to making this the year you live up to your (fabulous) intentions are:

1) Raise the Stakes.  Dare to dream bigger.  Make your intention sizzle for you by asking yourself what you really want, and tying your intention to that Vision.

2) Hold the Vision.  This will be easier to do when you have an inspiring intention, such as the client I described.  But, in part two of this series, I will share a few more tips on staying inspired and moving into your vision!

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