How to Move Your Goals from Intention into Action

People get confused about how to get from the resolution, the promise, the intention setting phase of things and into the actual doing or actualization phase. There seems to be a chasm between the two and no engineering plans for building a bridge. The end result looks perfect and shiny and makes us feel good. We're clear on what it is we're intending to achieve and we're probably amazingly, in aching detail, aware of where we are and who we are at this moment, which begins to feel like the big START spot on a game board with a trail of squares marching in front of us to the horizon. The issue is not so much about what steps to take or what is required. Those are usually easy to figure out now we can Google and pretty much anything and everything is there. But where to look, what to do with the information, what to do first seems like a game we're starting which not only has no rule book, but all the words are written in a foreign language.

Add to this the fact many people will choose to take on goals they have failed at before. And instead of seeing those failures as well-earned experience which has honed them and helped them, so they're prepared to succeed this time, the experiences are carried around as baggage holding them back and brought out to be examined each time something doesn't go exactly as planned.

So how do you get from goal setting to actualization? Well, there are a number of ways. Willpower is the one which gets tried first, usually. It's a skill of the mind which is what we are trained to rely on as our primary resource. Willpower acts somewhat like a ranch hand constantly wrangling us as if we're wild mustangs which refuse to be controlled. Strict rules are enforced, a plan is developed, and then we are wrangled into doing what needs to be done each day until we get to the goal, or we don't. Like all things, willpower is neither good nor bad, but it can have good or bad effects depending on how it is used. And it's not a universal fix all. Willpower works best when supporting something you really want to achieve, and enjoy doing, in a way which is mindful, organized, and can be sustained over a long period of time. Willpower is bad for getting you to do something you absolutely don't want to do or need to do in a less than organized manner. It's really bad at doing something like helping you make an organic life change which is all encompassing. Just ask any dieter if you need an example.

Another way to go from goal to action is being completely open to guidance from the Universe. Our lives are a grand conversation between us and everything else and the Universe (everything else here there and everywhere) does want us to achieve our best self so setting up the goal and then listening to the Universe can be one of the best and most inspirational ways of achieving a goal. Like willpower, being open to spirit is neither a universal fix nor "good/bad". To be receptive requires you be able to be very contemplative about your life, fully examining it, being in tune with yourself, your environment, and everything coming in and going out. This state of being requires immense flexibility to be able to take advantage of the synchronicities which come your way and not being afraid to step outside the box. This also means being very active out in the world because it is rare that opportunities actually come to the door and knock. However, if your issue is specifically you having difficulty understanding what the Universe is saying or asking of you, not hearing your guides, and you can't get a feel for what it is you're supposed to be doing, then this won't work at all.

The way I find most efficacious for succeeding at achieving resolutions, promises, and intentions is commitment.   It doesn't matter about the signs, about the approval of authority figures, permission from spiritual beings, the stars alignment or what your family thinks.  Too many times all these things are in agreement we should do the thing we want most in the world and yet nothing happens.  Because nothing happens unless we commit.  It doesn't matter how much support we have, how many messages we receive, or how many opportunities land at our feet, until we commit nothing happens.

Notice I'm not saying commit to an action, an action plan, a project, a dream, or a practice.  Those are the external actions. Yes, we need to take them and yes, we need to follow through on them.  Like a good swing at the bat, a kick of the soccer ball or a golf swing, it's the follow through which actually gets you there.  If you choke up, begin the stopping process before you've even connected with the ball, you've already failed.  However, the commitment happens long before the action.  The commitment happens when you choose to go practice rather than watch TV.

The commitment happens when you move your identity from someone who wishes they were "x" to someone who is "x" even if this means they are just at the very beginning of becoming "x."  Once you're committed then actions start unfolding.  Wavering, backsliding, avoidance happen, and they stem from inside when we start reconsidering.  When we're backing away from our commitment.  This is not to say we can't change our mind about the actions associated with it.  The plan, the project, the action, the long-term path may change a thousand times.  We can't possibly know exactly how to do something when we're just getting started.  That's part of the journey, learning on the job.  But we know when changing the action is backing up or turning back.

It's easy to get stuck in what can seem like a hamster wheel of thinking, intending, planning, considering, and preparing. It feels productive but like a mirage, no matter how much you do you never quite reach a point in which you step over the finish line into actually being x instead of preparing to be x. It's easy to make something less of a responsibility by saying it will happen someday and then listing all the things you have prioritized ahead of it and all the things you don't yet know how to do or even what to do about them....Passions, callings, and creativity can all become comfortable pastel versions of themselves which never challenge us and never come into being when we deny them the one thing they require to manifest, reality in time.

Just as words have meaning therefore saying something out loud makes it real and telling another person about something holds us accountable, setting a deadline for something takes it out of the ever changing, comfortable possible of our thoughts and energy giving it first breath out in the real world apart from us. Making a statement, marking the calendar, committing to taking action by a certain date makes the project real. It begins the manifestation process, calling form out of us through the energy of a time yet to come, but moving ever closer incrementally.  Making a hash mark on the timeline of our existence, drawing a line in the sand, immediately changes our internal prioritization mechanism, revaluing and shuffling things to accommodate this new aspect of our reality. Like magic we move from the potential to actual.

What causes us to hesitate in drawing this line isn't a lack of passion, a smaller ration of joy or desire, some missing component or a failure of will. It is the deep aversion we have to a transformative process which we do not control. We have transformed before, and the resulting experiences were mixed. Growing from an infant to a toddler was full of positive reinforcement and joy. Growth spurts in the middle years were awkward, confusing and sometimes painful. Puberty is its own right of passage which most of us are glad happened and joyful will never happen again. So, the line in the sand clearly defining our transformation from who we were to someone who is manifesting a new way of being in the world, is full of potentials which challenge us to our very core. As adults we don't have parents cheering us on, willing to pick us up when we fall and making sure there are minimal consequences to our failures and false starts. We're the adults now. Which is why the courage has to kick in, not after we start manifesting our new selves, but before we ever get started. We need courage to make this statement to ourselves in the universe, to put a mark in time saying "On this date I will be fully engaged in making this project manifest into the world."

Commitment is seen as the emotional equivalent of willpower. If you are committed then you won't deviate from your goal no matter what setbacks occur or what challenges you face and there is truth in that. However, what people misunderstand is commitment is not only something you have, necessarily, it is also something you do. Commitment is an act. It is the bridge between setting the goal and actually starting on the path to achieving it. Commitment as an act is the magical moment when you say out loud to yourself, your community, and the universe this resolution or promise or intention is real. 

Just as names have power and give the user the ability to call or access the named, commitments have the power to create, to change, to activate. When I work with clients and students, I recommend they create a commitment ceremony for themselves because most people think of commitment as an internal thing, a feeling or a thought, and so they say to themselves "Ok I'm committed" and are frustrated when nothing changes and nothing really happens. To be effective commitments need to occur in a way which utilizes all aspects of our being. This means they need to be external/physical, they need to be spoken, which utilizes our minds and hearts, and they need to be done ceremonially in order to connect our souls and the Universe around us i.e. the Akashics. Traditionally this would be done with a fire at night with community and a statement of the goal and the commitment to achieve it. The community would witness this, agree to support the person and an elder would give them some token as a focal point for their prayers and efforts, as well as give them words of wisdom to seal the deal. However most of us aren't living in local tribal cultures anymore and rarely do we have access to fire pits or even wood to burn, let alone a wise elder. 

So, I recommend my clients devise a ceremony of their own. I suggest they spend time creating a sacred space for themselves in or near their homes if they don't have one already. Spend a bit of time thinking about what they are committing to and what it means for them, then pull together items which represent the various aspects of this and fill the space with them. This becomes the community which will hear the commitment. They should cleanse the space before working with it (dust it or vacuum or sprinkle with holy water or light incense or smudge...), cleanse themselves and get into an undistracted state where they can focus on what they're about to do, prepare a celebratory meal for afterwards (this can be light hors d'oeuvres or a full on meal, just make sure it's enjoyable and not just left overs...unless that's enjoyable for them and then go for it!), then step into their space and make their commitment. This isn't a statement of intention. This isn't a promise to try. This is kinda a Yoda moment "Do or do not do. There is no try". They are committing themselves to actually doing this thing they have set up as a goal and this is their first step. They are agreeing they are willing to enact change and allow change to occur in order to succeed. I suggest they might want to state they will do so only for their best and highest good and this is part of their commitment going forward. No turning back, no holding on to who they were, once the ceremony is complete, they're committed. They ARE this new goal, this intention, this promise. 

The universe is waiting for you to get started doing what you've been praying about. Everything is set up and waiting. Now, it's up to you to commit. Is today that day?