Use Your Attention to Become a ‘Center of Intention’
I am very much a product of my environment.
At any given time, what I’m most focused on — what I’m consuming, who I’m talking to, and the books I’m reading — heavily influences my thoughts, ideas, and actions.
When I read Stephen King, I want to be a horror/thriller writer.
When I work with a client, I think of ideas to grow their business.
When I watch pickleball videos on YouTube, I write articles about it.
This consumption captures my attention, but it also shapes my intentions.
The Power of Intention
Being a writer, I’m naturally curious and often go down rabbit holes.
All it takes is seeing a good tweet or someone I like mentioning their name, and suddenly, I follow them on social media, buy their book (or books), and study what makes them so amazing.
While I don’t consider this a bad thing—I actually quite love it, it can be very distracting at times, and I often forget how I got to wherever I ended up.
Recently, I started reading Dan Koe.
I don’t even know why.
I find myself nodding at a lot of his ideas and even the one I’m writing about now is something he mentions for content creation and skill development.
He never calls it Center of Intention. I actually came up with that organically before hearing of Dan Koe, but it’s no surprise that the person appearing at the bottom of my current rabbit hole has similar thoughts to my own.
That’s the power of intention.
Like minds find like minds.
However, minds are also malleable; they form and change with different inputs or new environments.
Someone constantly surrounded by negativity or hate will likely have or quickly develop bad intentions.
Yet, someone raised on love, thoughtfulness, and finding a personal meaning will intend to create those things in the world.
The Being at the Center is You
We can’t help it; we are the heroes of our own stories.
We are the center of our own universe, and even the most giving, selfless person in the world is still stuck in their own mind, listening to their own thoughts and taking the actions they believe to be right.
Accepting that I am at the center of myself can feel a little heavy, but it also sets up a simple life hack to make myself smarter, more skilled, and better equipped for success.
That hack is to accept myself as the center and build a world where the attention I give leads to the intentions that I want.
Right now, my focus is on developing a business and lifelong career for myself, free from the whims of employers and the market.
This means I’m focusing heavily on improving my marketable skills, learning the aspects of business where I currently lack knowledge, and being inspired by those who have done it well.
Creating My Center of Intention
As a writer and someone who wants to teach others how to write and earn money from their writing, creating my center of intention means consuming information about writing, teaching, marketing, and business.
I want to surround myself with mentors.
Luckily, getting mentors today is easier than ever because almost everyone who is worth learning from offers online content or has written books.
I can get business advice and lessons from Alex Hormozi.
I can learn to write better sales copy from David Ogilvy.
And I can be inspired by numerous content creators across YouTube.
These people have no clue who I am, but they will mold me into what I become.
As my center of intention changes or I learn and develop new skills, so will my attention. Those people mentioned above will be replaced. But, what used to be me traveling down a random rabbit hole will be replaced too.
I now know the rabbit I must find and the hole I must jump (or crawl) into.
As I get curiouser and curiouser, I take solace in knowing that wherever I go, is exactly where I intended to be.
What does your Center of Intention look like?
