My Intention is…

In my career as an executive assistant, every day was hectic, and most days were stressful. In fact, there were days when I was pulled in so many directions that I felt like Gumby! It became clear that I needed to get a hold of the stress and craziness of my role and not let it define or control me but rather control it. That is why I decided to try a simple tool: setting an intention for my day before I even left the house.

I decided to keep a small journal on my dresser, and before I left the house for work each morning, I would write down my intention. One day in particular, I knew it would be especially stressful because we were announcing our quarterly earnings. People would be rushing around with questions and requests, and the list seemed endless.

My intention for this day was to be cool, calm, and collected, no matter what happens.

Off I went in the morning commute in my little red Corvette (yes, I do own one), and while I was not speeding, I was driving fast because I did not want to be late for my first meeting.

Suddenly I looked in my rearview mirror and sure enough, there was a police car with its red lights flashing, and my blood pressure was attempting to shoot through the roof!

The officer walked up to my car window, and the first thing he said was, “Nice car.” Then he asked me, “Do you know why I pulled you over?” (I am thinking, why do they always ask you that question, really?)

I just meekly smiled and said, “I’m not sure, officer,” to which he promptly told me, “You were driving 65 mph in a 45-mph zone.” (I am again thinking, this car could do 125 mph no problem, but you stopped me because I was going 65 – really?)

During this exchange with the officer, I remembered the intention I had set for myself that day: stay calm, cool, and collected no matter what happens.

With that, I took a calming breath and watched him fill out the form and hand me my speeding ticket with a warning (of course) to watch the speed limit in the future. Within 10 minutes, it was done. My blood pressure had already come down to an acceptable level - amazing!

I arrived at the office with 5 minutes to spare for my first meeting and came into the conference room calm and cool as if nothing had happened. In fact, the rest of my day went smoothly because I kept thinking about my intention for that day.I have continued this tradition ever since, both during my working career and now in my retirement years. Every day I write in my journal and always end the page with my intention for the day, and, candidly, it works like magic almost all the time.

In fact, I have a list of friends I text separately every Monday (no group texting) with what I call This Week’s Intention, and they love it!

If you want to join me in setting the tone for the week, email me your cell phone number, and I will add you to the list. It is fun and does not cost anything either!