People think of starting businesses for all sorts of reasons. You might think it represents the freedom to work only the hours you want. Or the possibility of unlimited earning potential. Or you might have a vision of “working for yourself” and “being your own boss”, or even “building an empire”.
The first time I started a business, I wasn’t even sure what the business would be. I mostly just wanted to see how it felt to start and run a business. I was younger, I was eager to grow professionally, and my particular job as an engineer with the federal government was looking more and more like a series of dead ends. I looked at changing jobs into private industry, but then I thought, “Hey, I could own my own business, why not?” And so my vision, however vague and non-specific, was set.
Even a vague or foggy vision can help set your intention
Maybe you don’t feel like you’re moving towards your dream life or career. And maybe it’s because you’re more clear about what you DON’T want than about what you DO want. It’s pretty common, and the good news is: It’s not a bad place to start.
But to help set your intention, you really have to think about it in the positive sense. Think more about where you want to go, and less about where you want to run from.
And don’t feel like you have to have it all figured out before you get started. Even a vague, blurry, or foggy vision of what you want will start to create some movement.
Setting an intention is like turning on a homing beacon
Imagine you’re flying an airplane, and not knowing where to land. You know how to operate the machinery, but you don’t have a destination in mind. When you set an intention, it’s like turning on a homing beacon that’s tuned to your frequency. You just start moving in the general direction of the beacon. You don’t know what the runway looks like yet, but you’re not worried about it. The landscape will come into focus soon enough, and the runway will light up for you when it’s time to land. For now, you just have to allow yourself to fly in that general direction.
So maybe you don’t know what you want to do exactly, but you may know how you want to feel. That could be your vision right now. Or maybe your work life seems unappealing because the business or career or your dreams is waiting for you to create it.
If all of this seems too daunting, begin with a simple exercise that you’ll find in our February newsletter. Click here to sign up to receive our newsletter.