Carolyn Hansen: Closing the intention-action gap

Everything that occurs in life begins with "intention". From the smallest physical movement such as standing up to mentally setting new goals. They all begin with an intention.

Whether your dreams be personal, business, financial, relationship or spiritually inclined, intentions are the creative force behind their fulfilment. These heart revealing wishes express your deepest desires and must be planted in your consciousness to grow, flourish and bloom when the season is right.

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Good intentions are fundamental and having positive ones is a boost to our adrenaline and vitality. However, intentions are only as good as the action steps that follow. When the "season is right", it's action that brings intentions to life. We must build a bridge between our intentions and actions if we want to achieve our goals.

How many times have you "intended" to begin exercising tomorrow morning, but failed to show up? How many times have you "intended" to stick to a healthy eating plan and take off that excess weight you've been toting around but failed to even begin?

If you identify with those statements, you're not alone.

Following through with your initial intentions, what you are intending to do is the real challenge and test of any resolve, not the initial desire, but it is also what's needed if you want to experience success.

It's the single thing that separates the winners from the losers. No matter how many promises you've made yourself or how many times you've psyched yourself up, without action, your intentions remain just that - intentions.

Ever hear the platitude, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions"? Intentions of themselves, have no power in the physical realm, but actions do. The reality is, what you do is way more powerful than what you "intend to do".

You can say you were going to do something, you can intend to do it, but until you actually do it, it doesn't get done!

In truth, what we planned to do holds no weight. No one sees our intentions, but they do see our behaviour - it is the real lens of our life. It's our actions, our behavior that gets judged, not our intentions!

We will never help anyone, including ourselves if our intentions, desires, dreams and visions are not backed by solid actions.

Furthermore, when we express our intentions as commitments to others and don't follow through with action towards getting it done, we lose valuable credibility - we erode any trust and confidence that has been placed in us by others.

In the end, we are perceived three ways - by what we are, what we think we are and what others think we are, but the only one that matters is "what we are".

Action steps reveal "what we are", they are what separates the successful person from the "wanna be". Wanna be's are dreamers, not doer's.

Wishing, hoping, dreaming, imagining, are all valid and honourable, they are the beginning forces of creation and manifesting in the physical realm, but they don't yet live in the physical realm.

They live in the mind, they are not yet empowered with life - they must be accompanied with movement - with action steps that breathe life into them.

So, what stops most people from acting? What separates the doers from the dreamers? Fear, worry and uncertainty. Fear and its partners worry and uncertainty are tyrants - real enemies and mental monsters that scare us out of action.

But paradoxically the only antidote to fear is action. Action is what overrides any "fear-files" or files of failure that are subconsciously keeping us inactive. It supplies the positive energy that's empowered to wash out and overcome negative feelings by replacing them with positive actions.

Let's face it, success is personal. It is not a product of genetics. Success is a product of persistent, consistent action. You can have the most creative imagination and some of the best ideas in the world, but without action, you'll achieve nothing.

There's a powerful law that says, "a body at rest tends to remain at rest or a body in motion tends to remain in motion".

Just the tiniest of actions can set in motion a series of awesome positive effects that catapult us towards our goal.

Successful people know this. They do not entertain fear or worry; nor do they empower it with inaction - they move past it with action.

Honour your heart-felt wishes, your deepest desires and dreams by making your intentions count. Empower them into creation with action.

Life has never been about just "letting it happen". Life is about setting goals, "taking action" and making it happen!

• Carolyn Hansen is co owner Anytime Fitness.