Hi. I’m Rick Sessinghaus. I’m asked all the time, “What are the two steps for success?” Well, I don’t know if there are just two steps, but I think that there are two key areas, that if you start to develop you will perform at a much, much higher level.
The first one is called intention. Intention? Yeah, let me read the definition to you. “Intention is a mental state that represents a commitment to carrying out an action or actions in the future. Intention involves mental activities, such as planning and forethought. The intention is about how you want to be. What are the actions you’re going to take? What’s the behavior you’re going to take in the future? In our society now everything’s about reacting. It’s like, I show up to work and see what’s there, and then, oh, I’ll do something. Instead of in choosing to respond to how I want to show up. Intend to be a certain way. Create an intention of what the goal you want to have before you have it. That’s part one. Are you very clear on what you wanna do, but, also, what are the behaviors and actions that you’re willing to take in the future? Plan for the success, that’s the intention.
The next one is actually about the performance itself. Are you being present in the present moment? Again, this day in age we’ve got our phone, we’re getting distracted constantly, there’s a lot of stimuli. Most people have forgotten about being present. Presence is literally that, is paying attention to the moment. Are you paying attention to your co-worker, are you really listening to your kids, are you really able to understand how do I wanna communicate something at that moment? Presence is awareness and where you place your attention. We’re not gonna think about what we’re gonna do there or what just happened yesterday, being present right now and focus.
When you’re clear on what you want, which is the intention of the future, now you’re there, you need to be present with that. Sometimes that’s just about asking questions. How do I wanna be right now? What do I have to pay attention to right now? When we now align intention and presence you will perform for success.