Intent

(Webster Dictionary – Adjective)

1: directed with strained or eager attention : CONCENTRATED.

2: having the mind, attention, or will concentrated on something or some end or purpose intent on their work.

Yes, it starts from within and is a very powerful stimulator, that leads to act as desired.

Thought inspired from a book by Alan Davidson "15 Paces," which I read in the early '70's.

A Prelude

I recall reading a book of a famous Australian All Rounder Alan Davidson, who was among the first to complete the double - more than a thousand Test Runs and more than a hundred wickets. Allan Davidson (88 years now), played 44 test matches for Australia batted in 61 innings bowled in 81 innings delivering 11587 deliveries in all (15 paces up and down those many times means about 197+ miles in all he covered to knit his illustrious career). Some more famous cricketers like Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan, Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Jacques Kallis, Wasim Akram are the others famous stars in this league.

It's been so many years, but, yes it's embedded deeply in my mind and heart. I recalled every word as I scripted this here.

In the opening lines of his book, is a beauty which says it all. It's the last ball he is about to deliver in his career to draw curtains.

He reminisces, "I have trudged this path thousands of times, my legs, seem to drag, not because am tired, I'll never do this again on a stage like this." On his way up to his run up he thinks about the dressing room the smell of leather balls and wooden bats dabbed with linseed oil for seasoning, and the massages on the table to keep him fit. Thanks everyone who were a part of those memorable moments.

The last six strides, he begins to focus on the delivery of his last ball. He wishes, how nice it would be if it was wicket taking and the record books entered it as.. caught Grout, bowled Davidson..(Thanks my mate Grout, I'll miss you very much because you've helped me a great deal with a lot many wickets against my name, with the stupendous catches behind the stumps, with those big gloves).

He reaches the top of his mark, visualizes and focuses as to where the ball should land, with the right pace. He does exactly that, delivers a fast ball on a good length, that drifts a shade because of the wind from behind his right shoulder, draws the batsman into a defensive shot, beats him, but takes a faint edge and sails at a comfortable waist height to Grout's right, who completes the catch.

Davidson kneels down looks at the heaves in tears and says "Thank you, My Lord."

The entire team gives their hero an emotional send off and is given the honour of leading the side back into the pavilion, with the match ball as a memorabilia.

That drew curtains on a famous player.

As you would have seen this narration shows the passion and the intent of a man committed to his job. It didn't matter even if the last delivery was crap worth being clobbered, but, the intent and the desire, to never give up is the most noteworthy lesson I picked up reading the book.

We have routines too, for many of us, everyday work can become routine and boring, or totally overwhelming and stressful. Several research studies show that most successful and resilient people are driven by a sense of purpose. Reminding ourselves of our  intents, can help find new passion and purpose in our work, or help us admit that it is time to make a change.

It is not possible to change our habits, our thoughts, our jobs or careers easily, but an intent is like a seed. A seed is full of potential -- we plant it, let the soil, rains and sun nurture it, and trust that, in time, it will blossom into a beautiful tree or flower. Once we know our intents, we get more comfortable expressing our desires to ourselves, to our loved ones and to our community.

An intent represents our deepest desires -- those emotional yearnings that we ask for when we are honest and authentic.

An intent is who we aspire to be -- as individuals, members of our community (family, workplace) or citizens of our planet.

We start to seek out opportunities to live out our desires through our relationships, our work and our daily activities. We start to find more purpose in small ways, day by day.

Intents are not the same as goals. Intents spring out of emotions whereas goals are often set with an end result to be attained.

Begin by having a micro-intent for today : We can at times feel overwhelmed to think about what our life intents or desires are -- it may be helpful to take little steps first!  Try to set a micro-intent for every day for one week. When you get started in the morning, set an intent just for today. Perhaps it is: My intent is to connect with someone from whom I can learn something today. Or, my intent is to send a thank you note to a colleague at work expressing my gratitude.. small things like this, but, those which can be impactful.