How to Achieve our GOALS

(Okay, so now we have a flicker account and photos and a link to my blog).

Choosing a path requires
1. Making a choice to go somewhere...
2. A clear INTENTION;

Sounds simple, however, I have often found that what seemed obvious to me is far from obvious to others. This results in lots of confusion and arguments about what should have happened. Then as the questions fly I usually find that I was not clear about what it is was that I actually wanted. This lead me to wonder - "what actually is a clear intention and how do I know that I have a clear intention"?

I also have a lot of examples of when my intention was clear and the desired result was achieved quickly and easily. What follows is my understanding of the necessary components to communicate (and understand) a person’s intention.

An intention is the clarification of a proposition, thus an intention requires a proposition.
We will take as an example the proposition "A journey of 1000 miles begins with one step".
Now what is implicit in this proposition?
a) we have a goal - Our goal is a destination 1000 miles away.
b) There is a choice involved (isn't there always?) “to start or not to start"? So we know there is uncertainty involved.

c) We must have a reason or purpose for going on this journey. It is reasonable to believe it the difficulty of deciding if the achievement of the purpose will outweigh the cost of the journey that is making us hesitant?
d) To make this determination we must have a measure of the reward (of arriving at the destination) and a limit on the cost (of the journey). And it will make our choice easier if we decide on a few things like the maximum time for the journey.

Okay we have – a goal, a purpose and a measure. Is this sufficient for a clear intention?
No; this is not enough; we also need to have some idea of the necessary actions required.
We may not be prepared to walk 1000 miles; so a means of transport may be required. If it takes more than 1 day, where do we stay? Will we camp, thus needing a tent etc and the means of carrying it or will we stay in motels and need extra funds etc? Assuming we want our partner to do some of the preparation, unless we have agreed on these types of things an argument will result. This tells me we have not yet made our intention clear.

e) For a clear intention the general process must also be clear.
f) Plus, there is another thing we need to have some clarity on. What could be the risk of our journey being too successful? Maybe we have so much fun on the journey we become travel junkies and forget the destination and just go on travelling. Or we like the destination so much we never come home. If our purpose was to improve our relationship, a difference of opinion in these choices could break up the relationship. Thus, identifying the Risks of Success helps refine our measures so they are consistent with our purpose.

Now we know we have a CLEAR INTENTION; instructions we can pass to a 3^rd party and have them implement for us and produce what we wanted to have.

Making a goal happen
Originally uploaded by IBPservice

Okay, with all that sorted, we are now in the position to decide if we want to go on this journey. We have a good idea of what will be involved, how we will know if it is worthwhile and what we will get out of it at the end. We can make an informed choice.

This gives us a nice test of a clear intention.

A clear intention enables me to make an informed choice about my involvement in a planned action.

This leads us to the time frame for all of this. We still may not be able to participate if it clashes with something else we have planned. Once we know the plan (Who will do what and when, we can take the 1st (and subsequent) steps as the proposition says; we can begin.