Leading With Conscious Intent

Further to last week's discussion (Are You A Leader?), I wanted to delve a little deeper into a particular idea. So, first, we, in fact, ARE ALL LEADERS. Second, we are NEVER NOT leading. No matter what we're doing we are progressing towards a goal. The question is... is it a goal we WANT to progress towards?

Saying we want to take a break in life is like standing in a river and wanting to stop the flow of the water. Water or time will always move forward (forget about the idea of building a dam to stop the water flow for now). We cannot take a break from life for a moment. Thought of differently everything we do is an action. There is always a consequence to whatever action we are performing or not performing. Whether we're running or sitting on the couch we are performing an action. Now either are okay depending on what our goals or intentions are. If both individuals have the goal of running in a 5km race, one is taking an action to reach that goal by running now. If the other person is sitting on the couch night after night and not running then running is not actually their goal. They MUST have a different (and possibly unconscious) goal that they are working towards. As mentioned above with the example of a river flowing, we are ALWAYS working towards a goal. Now, if the person on the couch is resting on the couch after having gone for a run then they are allowing their mind and body some time to recover from running and therefore, sitting on the couch becomes a part of their intentional plan towards achieving their goal of running.

What are YOU working towards? You are either working towards some end consciously (intentionally) OR unconsciously. If you're not achieving the goals that you want then it must not be your intention to actually achieve those goals and you're the person sitting on the couch wishing you could run 5km. In this situation, there is an unconscious stream that is actually determining the course of your life and you're not aware of its presence or not willing to take action to change its course.

There is an interesting concept being presented here because if we think of our lives as a river then in reality rivers have a certain path that they take. However, when it comes to the river of our lives, although the water continues to flow as it would on any river, we actually have the ability to alter the path of the river of our lives. In reality this would be a very difficult task (to change the course of a river), however, in our lives (although it may seem like an insurmountable task) we can make changes (even small ones) that alter the course of our rivers in order to achieve the outcomes and goals that we want for our lives. One of the key ingredients is making conscious effort and taking action in order to change the course of our lives.

As always, Strive to Optimize!