12 March 2007
Successful Intentions Newsletter
Hi ,
Are there some people in your life whose performance is difficult to manage? Do you sometimes under-perform to your own expectations?!
Performance is more than a set of behaviours leading to an outcome. What you see in yourself and others is a consequence of preconceived action whether consciously followed or not!
Intention is the set-up!
Performance is the get-up!
For example, the intention to move a group of muscles to perform an action sets up a measurable electrical response up to 1.5 seconds before muscle activation.
That's why Sports Psychologists use both physical practice and mental rehearsal to train high performance athletes. One without the other is not as effective.
Intention is like the drive shaft of your car's engine. If it's not properly engaged it won't turn the wheels. That's OK when you're coasting downhill in life. But when you want traction you have to consciously engage power with purpose!
And just like the gears of your car there are three stages of engagement through which intention delivers performance. These are:
- Identity: Who you say you are, your level of accurate self-awareness, your trigger-points of defensiveness, and all the stories you tell yourself about your life's meaning.
- Relationship: Your level of emotional and social awareness, your capacity (and willingness!) to see situations and people from multiple perspectives, and how you understand yourself and your history in relation to others.
- Systems: The particular characteristics of the systems through which you live your life, such as family systems, work teams, organizational structures, financial frameworks, authorities, agencies, and all the many "contracts" of expectation you have with the "community-at-large".
If your intention is out of alignment with one or more of these stages you'll find yourself "crashing the gears" and not performing! Sometimes it's the System that doesn't allow you to truly perform. At other times it may be particular Relationships that throw you off line. And at a deeper level sometimes the stories you tell yourself about your core Identity may be holding you back.
You can download the Power of Intention Model here.
Keep your intentions clear,
Peter Webb
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