The Power of “I”

Sometimes success, achieving ‘the thing’, can happen by accident. But more often than not it is from inspiration, innovation, and intentionality. The 3 Power I’s.

A good example of a mis-hap success is the multi-million-dollar toy that has spanned generations (and I even got some in my Christmas stocking this year!) – Play-Doh.

Play-Doh was originally created as a cleaning product (and works by the way). Who knew that kids (and adults) would love to play with it – great stress reliver! They created it to be used for one thing but when they saw the results, they intentionally changed their target market.

Another accidental success is the microwave oven. The device that most Americans use on a daily basis was invented by as an “oh – look what this does!”. A war time scientist realized the capabilities of heating things up as he was researching a solution for a completely different problem then cooking food.

But those are not the ‘norm’, those are the one-offs, the unlikely stories that are fun to talk about but a bad idea to bank your future on!

Rather than waiting on things to spontaneously occur we need to shift from an ‘it happened’ mindset and life to an ‘I did it’ mindset. 

We have the power to bring about change in our lives by making intentional choices that propel us to where we want to go and who we want to be.

How do we act more intentionally? How do we begin to create the life and business we desire?

It starts with understanding that we have a choice.

We actually have an abundance of choices in this world of what to do, how to spend our time, who to follow, how to lead, and on and on. Our choices define not only what we do but who we are, our behaviors and our actions.

We chose to do what we do based on reason, perception, core values, justification, and even our excuses. Even if we do something reluctantly, with a feeling of being forced to, we still chose to act. We intentionally took action.

Our actions are not CAUSED, they are a choice. They are an active participation derived from how we view things, how we interact with them, how we perceive them, and what we do with the uncontrollables in our lives.

There will always be certain things in this life we can’t control – the externals. Like gravity, the weather, how others act, circumstances and situations we find ourselves in. But when we take a look at our reality, gain clarity on what we can and can not control, and focus in (intentionally) on those that we can control we start to emerge with the power to change and grow. 

Intentional actions are guided by, not contained by, our core values, our mission and our vision for our lives, our beliefs, knowledge, desires, and experience. In addition, intentions are birthed from inspired thoughts and feelings. 

The power of Inspiration

The word inspired comes from the latin word ‘inspirone’ which means to blow or breathe life into something. I love that!

Think of it this way: you have something that you do, and you have always done it a certain way. But it is not working – it is not serving the purpose any longer or you know that it could be better, more efficient, more productive, or you want to go down a bit of a different path.

So, you are inspired to breathe new life into it.

You work and are urged to find a new way of doing things or to create or change something.

Which is the very definition of innovate: to make a change in something established; to renew; to alter.

The power of Innovation

In order to be innovative, you must be inspired. Once you harness the inspiration you have the ability to ‘breathe new life’ into something.

Innovation is tough to define but here is the definition from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

“The implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service) or process, a new marketing method or a new organizational method in business practice, workplace organization or external relations.”

There are many ways to be innovative. The OECS cites 4 categories: (1) Incremental innovation or continuous improvement; (2) Adjacent innovation; (3) Disruptive innovation; and (4) Radical innovation.

Although we are not going to discuss these today just know that there is more than one way to be innovative. (Think about the cell phone industry – they have new phones come our every year with nothing really innovative or radically new about them…what changes is the marketing. How they position it. The significant or radical innovation happened years ago when they cut the cord and made the telephone transportable.)

The power of Intentionality

In turn, innovative thoughts birth your new intentions and thus your actions. (Because we all know that intentions alone don’t get you there.)

The latin root for intention is ‘intentio’ which loosely translated means to stretch, to have purpose, to have a determination to act and direct your attention on.  Which means… You might have to get uncomfortable for a bit as you focus on stretching and growth in turning your inspiration into a reality.

Once your inspiration sparks innovation, you now have to be intentional to execute – you need to have a plan of action with a designated focus of desired outcome. You need to set your intentions.

Often times we quickly pour ourselves into something… a business, a relationship, a new product, a new exercise program. But we fail to create a structure around it. We get excited by the inspiration we feel and the innovative solution or project we’re embarking upon. But to our detriment, we start without a defined intention, then we find ourselves scrambling, not being able to stay committed and consistent, or failing all together.

Instead, we should take the inspiration that we have, innovate to create, or change the “thing” or the way we do things, then define our intentions before we act…WHEW! That was a mouthful!

So, what does all this mean to you? How can you be more intentional?

Here is the progression of creating (intentionally) the life and business you desire:

1. Know your CORE values, your mission and vision. Inspiration and intentions all come from those foundational aspects. Join us at the February Signature Event (guests welcome) for a discussion on this very thing. And if you are a member of NBG join us at the Ask the Expert for help defining them. If you are reading this after Feb 2023 and are a member – see the replay in the Video Library.
2. Sit and contemplate about what inspires you, what you have the internal natural desire and drive to accomplish, and what aspects of your life and business you want to breathe new life into. 
3. Identify what is in the way – externally and internally. Take a hard look at the external roadblocks and realize which you do and don’t have control over – taking into consideration that the block might be how you VIEW the external hazard, what you do with it, how you feel about it, what actions you take concerning it.
4. Find innovative ways to move past those roadblocks, to switch your perception and the actions you take around it. Intentionally DO something different, THINK differently, choose to FEEL differently about it.
5. Set your intentions on what you are inspired to be innovative about – what you want to create or change. Be specific. What do you intend to do? Then – DO IT!

Bottom line, we each have the power and control to change our lives and our businesses. Innovative, intentional, and inspired people shape their own futures, and lead not only themselves but others.

Be Inspired

Be Innovative

Be Intentional

There is Power in the “I”