Three Simple Steps: A Map to Success in Business and Life (24 page)

You open your eyes, and reality hits. You realize you’d need more cash than you have. You’d also need to do something with the house while you are gone. The trick is to write down your Intention before too many of those present-day thoughts destroy your enthusiasm.

You write down something like:
I live a life with complete freedom to travel. I flew first class to Paris, where I spent the spring in five-star luxury hotels, dining on gourmet food, and everyone complimented me on my fluent French
.

According to the three P’s, it is written as already received. As you start to think again about the reality of your situation, you can break that main Intention down into four categories that are necessary to achieve this main one:

  
   Financial Intentions

            
My first consideration with any Intention is to estimate how much money I would need to fulfill that dream. I know in my mind that if I had the money, I would not hesitate to create what I just dreamt about, so my first Intention is financial. I write it down, and I am quite specific. It has changed over time as one dream is achieved and replaced by another.

            
From my starting place to the achievement of an annual salary of $50,000 felt like a big jump, and I am not sure I really believed it at all. I just followed the plan and set the Intention. In less than a year, I was earning
more than $50,000, and set myself the Intention of earning $330,000 a year.

            
It was a bit of a stretch, but so many great things were showing up in my life that I never doubted it would happen. Within a year, I was earning a six-figure salary, and it kept increasing until four years later I had surpassed the Intention. I barely noticed because I had already changed the Intention to a seven-figure number. By then, I knew that whatever I wrote down would show up when I was ready for it, and from a financial sense I moved to a state of knowing.

  
   Achievement Intentions

            
Next, I analyze what aspects of the dream appealed so much. What made my pulse race? At different times, it has been an opportunity to travel, the delight of recognition by winning an award, being my own boss, or even writing a book that made a positive difference in the lives of others. I add several achievement Intentions that are related to the main dream.

  
   Lifestyle Intentions

            
I like to add some Intentions around the lifestyle that turned me on in the dream. For instance, my dreams were usually in beautiful settings, and climate was obviously important to me. I might add that I live in a sunny climate, or the beautiful countryside of Tuscany, or on a pristine beach. It could be anything, and at different times I have had language, music, and artistic Intentions.

  
   Material Intentions

            
Then I consider the material things that were in my dream. They can be large and small. Was there a dream car or home? Perhaps you have always wanted to own a certain painting or a beach cottage?

            
I have intended things as diverse as cars, homes, media rooms, wines, art, and sports tickets. I usually have between six and ten Intentions for material things large and small. Having smaller Intentions mixed in with the larger ones adds to the fun, because there will be a lot of check marks to enjoy as they show up.

            
In our example of the desire to travel to Paris, the Intentions you write to get you to that main dream might be:

            
   I have two hundred thousand dollars in my checking account.

            
   I rented out my house for one year to perfect tenants for five thousand dollars a month.

            
   I traveled safely around Europe for that one year and spent spring in Paris.

            
   I traveled first-class and lived luxuriously all the way.

            
   I spoke French fluently and was complimented by the locals for my fine grasp of their language.

How quickly those Intentions come to you depends on how much you daydream, how often you are taking quiet time, and how well you control your positive mentality—in other words, how consistently you practice the three simple steps. There are useful additional techniques to help speed up the enjoyment of your Intentions, and raise your energy to the state of knowing.

If all you really wanted was to visit Paris one time in your life, you could set your Intentions around that. In my experience, however, there is a useful technique that can be used to bring your desire to you sooner. If you set your Intentions much larger than your core desire, you trigger several positive psychological benefits. By daydreaming and imagining a larger scenario, the core desire starts to feel more attainable. When it is about to show up, you tend to be more in a state of knowing, and you more easily accept the miracles that come.

For instance, when I lived in a cottage with a single rickety garage that was too small for an automobile, I had a desire for one particular automobile. The Intention I set was for a multicar garage, with a different vehicle in each bay. When I eventually purchased that dream car, it was nestled in the middle bay of a seven-car garage. I was still as thrilled by the car, but not at all surprised to see it finally turn up. If a visit to Paris is your desire, set an Intention for a lengthy sabbatical in Europe, traveling around all the great cities. There is definitely a magic in thinking big.