Intentionality, defined as interior motives to take action, is subject to "emotional drag" and "physical resistance." Emotional drag results from keeping our intentions to ourselves believing that we can muster the means and the will on our own to realize them any time we choose. Intentions are invisible motivators that, unless manifested by means of immediate action, become enfeebled in their ability to generate sufficient energy and appropriate activity that would actually bring them "into the visible world." The longer they reside silently inside your mind, the weaker they grow to create altered states and improved circumstances in your life.

We judge others by their actions but ourselves by our intentions. Therefore, when we reflect on our state of being at any time in our lives, we tend to "sweeten" the reality that has actually been effected by our behavior with the coating of what only we can know as what we have in mind to make of our personal reality in the near future. In other words, we often tend to see ourselves at any given moment not as we truly are but as we intend soon to become.

The key to making that intended reality an actuality is in how you deal with your internal motives to take action to make it happen. Whenever you experience a desire to change something about your life, no matter how clear or vague, weak or strong, noble or base, take an immediate action to manifest it in the external world.

The best first step is simply to tell someone about your initial thoughts and how they are impacting your current emotional condition. What do your thoughts cause you to want to do? Do you find that each time they arise they fuel a feeling of dissatisfaction with the existing state of affairs and feed your excitement when contemplating the possibilities of the future? When you verbalize what's going on inside you and share it with another, you clarify its meaning and the impact it can have on you. This often delineates obvious pathways for bodily expression of these thoughts-turned-intentions such that they can be more immediately displayed.

Another way to take advantage of the profound power of your intentions is to make a definitive decision to move your body differently than you're doing right now. If you're sitting, stand up, walk across the room or, if you're walking, stop in the middle of your tracks, perhaps sit down or turn around and walk in a different direction. The point is to immediately alter your physical movement as a direct result of the occurrence of the thought/feeling that induces a desire to change something about your life. By doing this, you alert your brain that something significant has just happened and that it should respond to all further occurrences with immediate action in order to bring about something different than what has previously occurred.

Yet another approach to harnessing the motivational clout of your intentions is to objectify them in as many ways as possible. One way is to write them down by scribing a full manuscript of your thinking, the sources of this train of thought and the various implications it has for your life and others' lives. Then do an outline, jotting down aphoristic anecdotes and personal experiences that will summarize the main ideas that emerge. You can make this summary even more succinct by simply listing the primary points for later reference. You could record any or all of the foregoing as an mp3 so you can hear it in your own words as many times as you want later. These tactics are not difficult to undertake with proper management of your time.

If you know more than a single language, you can do the same thing in other languages. I'm familiar with German, having lived there for a while as a university student. I find that when I translate my English thoughts into the German language, I get a fuller understanding of the multiple meanings they actually have contained within them. They are like a pod filled with seeds all having the same DNA but with the capacity to express individuality and uniqueness, singular variations on a single theme.

It's also a good idea to generate at least three ideas for how you can activate your intentions so they can release their energy into your behavior. This is the beginning of a plan for acting on your intentions that unleashes their power to motivate and, literally, move you forward toward bringing them into the light of day.

You can activate your intentions by creating behavioral "anchors." These are established by simply tying a simple act, like snapping your fingers, to the occurrence of an intention in your mind. Whenever it occurs in the future, your anchored behavior will remind you that you can actually do something about your intention immediately, even if it's merely "snapping your fingers." It links your inside world to the outside world in a tangible manner such that it encourages you to take the next step to complete the transition to full physical expression of the intention.

We also have within us "de-motivators." These are thoughts and feelings, primarily fearful and self-doubting in nature, which put the brakes on action, no matter how motivated otherwise you might be. They cast your best intentions into a pit of darkness and despair and pave the proverbial "pathway to Hell." These thoughts have consistently led you through a mental rut that allows for only the same previous reactive and constrictive behavior to the events in your life.

To combat your de-motivating thinking process and lift yourself out of the ever-deepening rut of negative reflection, focus on coming up with three ideas to deactivate your de-motivators. You can do this by answering honestly these three questions: "What do I need to stop thinking and doing, start thinking and doing or continue thinking and doing to a greater (or lesser) degree than I am now?" When you answer these questions, you'll discover what your "stoppage points" to progress are and what you can do right now to release the flow of energy toward more productive results in your life. You'll also find that you've regained your choice in the ways you can act on your thoughts. You can actually do something different than before and have more control over the potentiality of your intentions.

Without intentionally developing a plan for taking immediate action on your intentions, you'll experience the physical resistance of languor, lethargy and torpor that will stop you dead in your tracks and halt your onward movement toward improvement and fulfillment. Your true motivations in life are the ones you act on and not the ones you merely intend to make happen. You must choose to act rather than wait to be "motivated" to take action before more positive outcomes can be expected to result.

Furthermore, the amount of time you allow to pass between inspiration (the initial occurrence of your intentions) and the implementation of those intentions will determine the amount of satisfaction and confidence you'll achieve in your life. The shorter the time span, the greater the benefits. The longer you wait to implement, the weaker the impetus to take any action whatsoever. There's a great poem by "Anonymous" that captures this truth precisely:

"He'd be all a human could be . . . tomorrow;

No one would be kinder or fairer than she . . . tomorrow.

Each day he'd stack up the letters he intended to write . . . tomorrow;

And each day she'd think of the friends she'd fill with delight . . . tomorrow.

But the fact is, they died and faded from view,

And all that was left when living was through

Was the mountain of things they intended to do . . . tomorrow."

As a summary of this article, I offer the following homemade poem:

"Act quickly without delay

Upon intentions that they may

Into the light be born this day

To give their power to portray

A life that caught within the fray

Still permits for peace to stay

And confidence to grow."

Ken Wallace, M. Div., CSL has been in the organizational development field since 1973. He is a seasoned consultant, speaker and executive coach with extensive business experience in multiple industries who provides practical organizational direction and support for business leaders. A professional member of the National Speakers Association since 1989, he is also a member of the International Federation for Professional Speaking and holds the Certified Seminar Leader (CSL) professional designation awarded by the American Seminar Leaders Association.

Ken is one of only eight certified Business Systems and Process Coaches worldwide for General Motors.

His topics include ethics, leadership, change, communication & his unique Optimal Process Design® program.

Tel:(800)235-5690 Claim your FREE Leadership Self-Evaluation Checklist and your FREE 5-Day Mini-Course on how to get off your mark and into the life of your dreams, "Get It Done By Tomorrow!" by visiting the Better Than Your Best website http://www.kenwallacecompany.com/ and sign up for our FREE Newsletter.