Differentiating Goals and Intentions

What are Intentions

Intentions are like my affirmations. They are not exactly specific, but they give a general direction of where I want to head. One of my long time intentions has been to start a publishing business. My biggest intention is to have my own publishing business. As an intention it is just a dim light in the future. I don’t know how I am going to get there because I haven’t developed goals or sign posts along the road to get me there.
An intention is like a wilderness with no roads. Goals are more like the roads or trails forged through the wilderness. Goals offer sign posts that tell us where we are and how far we have to go. Goals are more specific and let us know if we are close to our intentions.
The nearer intention that I have is that I intent to be a full-time self-published author. My hope is that I will accomplish this by April 2016.

What are Goals

An intention is like a wilderness with no roads. Goals are more like the roads or trails forged through the wilderness. Goals offer sign posts that tell us where we are and how far we have to go. Goals are more specific and let us know if we are close to our intentions.

Numerous goals come into play in reaching this intention. I have marketing goals, sales goals, production goals, and financial goals. I have physical world goals and online goals. All of these goals are sign posts that indicate where my business is going and how close I am to the intentions that I want to accomplish.

Adjusting Goals

There are times when obtaining our goals isn’t always a straight path. Imagine obtaining a goal as fallowing a path when suddenly you come to a bridge. You had seen that bridge on your map (plan) but what you had not anticipated was that there was a flash flood upstream and now that bridge has water running over it. You could try to go over it anyway (and potentially get washed away) You could decide to quit and go back the way you came, or you could look at your map (plan) and look for an alternative route (goal) that will get you to your desired intention.

Let me offer a recent example in my own life of where I goal was thwarted and I had to rethink the path that I was going to take. Due to no fault of my own, I lost the job that I had for the past year. My intention was that in six months, I would quit the job and go full time as a writer. When I found out that I lost my job, I thought that since that happened, perhaps I could work full time on making writing my full time career move sooner. I thought that perhaps I would seek unemployment, put in job applications as instructed to my dream jobs and collect checks while spending most of my time writing. I discovered that I was uninsured because of a three day technicality.. I thought that perhaps I could make the writing still work. That idea came to a screeching halt last Saturday when I had a well publicized book signing where no one showed up. The store owner was apologetic and said that I could come back at another time, but that wasn’t going to work either. I need some sort of cash flow. If I did that too many times, I could be sitting on the side of the road book-less and penniless.  So much for plans A B and C. I then put in a bunch of applications to jobs that I didn’t really want, but I knew that I could perhaps get. I have just been hired for a temporary job helping to move a retail store to its new location and it also means that perhaps I will be able to get in part time there, maybe until after Christmas where I would again definitely be eligible for unemployment (and go back to plan B).  Writing full time still is my goal, but I am not yet ready to walk across that bridge. I am going to have to change my path slightly.

Donna Brown is an ordained minister. As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues, and most recently, A Coward’s Solace, Book III of the Locket Saga.For more information about Cygnet Brown and her book, check out her website at http://www.cygnetbrow.com .