What is it that you are building?

What is the underlying intention / goal of your daily actions?

What is it that you are trying to build?

This simple question sparks a reminder of a famous Nelson Mandela quote that seems to perfectly capture the essence of this positioning of mindset:

“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”
― Nelson Mandela

Often work happens without there being a conscious understanding of exactly what it is that we are trying to create.

Our daily activities can be motivated by fear (fear of failure, fear of the future, fear of missing a debt repayment) or they can alternatively be motivated by a hopeful vision of what we would ultimately like to achieve.

It is not unusual for us to not to be entirely aware as to whether, it is the positive vision or its darker shadow, which is ultimately in charge.

But it is an important question to explore because psychologically a fear-based motivation is far less effective, and personally fulfilling, than a hopeful vision of the future.

A journey towards an avoidance of disaster only offers a reward right at the end of it, when the risk is ultimately overcome; whereas working towards an ideal state of the future offers us moments of learning and reflection at every stage of our development.

Your hopeful intention (in-tension - the tension that you create within yourself that fires your motivation to pursue it everyday) is a powerful tool that can be used to drive the making of your future. If the intension statement itself is to vague, complicated, lengthy or meaningless it loses its power to drive action.

Without it though - you also allow fear to take the place of hope, which is obviously where a lot of deeper issue start to take hold.

Creating a hopeful vision of what it is that you are trying to build should be a carefully considered piece. This isn't something you want to rush or write without a lot of deep reflection and broad consultation. Avoid turning it into a stereotypical business puff-piece that everyone chooses to ignore.

Creating it is an opportunity to inspire and explore - to creatively imagine your future as you'd like it to be.