Set Powerful Intentions for 2024

Stop Drifting

Drifting is a dangerous habit that gobbles up your precious life and leaves you wondering where it went. The remedy is to set clear intentions and keep your attention on your deepest desires. 

Yes, the world is in chaos. Many smart people are warning us it will get worse in 2024. And yet, I know the power of the human spirit and our unlimited capacity to create experiences and things in this world. We can either create what we deeply desire or drift along with the crowd and experience what someone else decides.

Why Drifting is a Tool of the Devil

Several years ago I discovered the book Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill. It was published after Hill’s death because his family feared the reaction to this provoking book. It resonated deeply within me even though it is an imaginary conversation. 

You are designed with unique gifts and talents that only you can bring into this world. If you don’t invest the time and energy to explore who you are and what your unique genius is, you will drift. 

You drift when you get up every day and follow a daily routine that does not bring you immense joy. If you are following society’s expectations and flawed recipe for success in your attempt to just pay the bills, you are drifting. 

You need to learn to think for yourself. If you allow your mind to be warped by the media and propaganda, you will drift. If you fall into the trap of predictive programming where you are presented with ideas, stories, and values that are repeated over and over again until you believe them to be true, you will lose your own True North. 

Outwitting the Devil

In Outwitting the Devil, Napoleon Hill interviewed the Devil and asked how he makes people drift and why. Here are some quotes from the Devil: 

I start people drifting during their youth. I induce them to drift through school without knowing what occupation they wish to follow in life.

I teach people to become drifters by causing them to drift out of school into the first job they can find, with no definite aim or purpose except to make a living. Through this trick I keep millions of people in fear of poverty all their lives. Through this fear I lead them slowly but surely onward until they reach the point beyond which no individual ever has broken the drifting habit.

I cause people to drift into the habit of thinking negative thoughts. This leads to negative acts and involves people in controversies and fills their minds with fears, thus paving the way for me to enter and control their minds. When I move in, I do so by appealing to people through negative thoughts which they believe to be their own. I plant the seeds of negative thought in the minds of people through the pulpit, the newspapers, the moving pictures, the radio, and all other popular methods of appeal to the mind. I cause people to allow me to do their thinking for them because they are too lazy and too indifferent to think for themselves.

Any habit which causes one to procrastinate to put off reaching a definite decision leads to the habit of drifting.

-- Outwitting the Devil, Napoleon Hill

Of course, this is a fictional conversation, but it makes good sense. If society’s institutions are designed to make people drift and make it a habit of letting others do the thinking - it seems like they are succeeding in this endeavor.  

When you drift into the first job you can get out of school without a definite intention, it sets you up for a lifetime of drifting. Schools do not give you the time or support to figure out who you are and what your unique gifts and talents are. This is why I home educated my daughters and am a huge advocate of self-directed learning. When a young man or woman directs their own learning journey, they begin to direct their life.

I reject John Locke's Tabula Rasa theory that every human comes into this world with mental blankness and no ideas. After having coached executives and entrepreneurs for over two decades, I know that every man and woman comes with a unique role to fill here. We just get lost in the business of surviving school. We must not allow formal education determine someone’s path until they have discovered who they are and learned how to think for themselves. 

What is Success?

Here is my definition of success:

Success means successful living. When you are peaceful, happy, joyous, and doing what you love to do, you are successful. 

Think about this for a minute. There are lots of “successful” people who have all the trappings of success (money, status, stuff) and yet feel empty and unfulfilled. I know this because a majority of my coaching clients are “successful” and unhappy. 

If drifting has become a habit for you in any area of your life, it is time to take a moment and decide who you want to be and what you want your life to look and feel like. We can do this in four areas of our life: 1) emotional and physical health; 2) relationships; 3) vocation; and 4) recreation. 

Emotional and Physical Wellbeing

Your emotional state has a direct impact on your physical well being. We are energetic beings and every emotion that we experience impacts our physical body with its frequency and power. What is the overall emotional state that tend to live in? 

Often you are unaware that you operate in a low mood most of the time. Or that you feel an overwhelming sense of powerlessness or frustration. We just follow our routines and habits and hope for the best. 

Here is an opportunity to take stock of your physical and emotional well-being. 

In 2024, what would you like to experience for your physical and emotional states? Would you like more energy, peace of mind, enthusiasm? You can reclaim perfect health. It is your birthright. Disease is created on this plane of existence via poisoned food, water, air, and traumatic experiences. 

For myself, I claim a strong energetic body free from all dis-ease. I align my actions with this intention and exercise 5 days a week, drink pure water, eat a traditional nutrient dense diet, get plenty of sunshine and sleep and make sure that I have a belly laugh at least once a day. I am intensely grateful for my excellent health. 

A side note: The Mace Energy Method is a powerful way to heal emotional wounds. I set the intention to become a Mace Energy Method practitioner and begin my training in January. As I go, I will be able to explain why I am so excited about this method and how it offers permanent emotional healing.

Relationships

We all want good relationships with family and friends. We also seek a life partner who will complete us. Unfortunately this is a bit of a psyop that is sold to us through music, movies, and TV. Almost every pop song since the 1970s talks about romantic love as the goal of life. We are raised to believe that another person can make us happy. This is impossible and puts a huge burden on a romantic relationship. 

To have healthy relationships and attract the partner you desire, you must love yourself first. You, as a spiritual being, are perfect and complete. Enjoy being with another person without demanding that they behave in a certain way to make you happy.

Of course, you need to avoid people who have an impaired conscience, lack empathy and deceive others for their benefit. When you have a great relationship with yourself, you will naturally repel the energy vampires that move among us. Often this stars with self forgiveness. Let go of the past and do not let it determine your future. 

What kind of relationships do you want in 2024 with your family, friends, co-workers, and partner? 

For myself, I am grateful for strong and healthy relationships with my daughters, father, and sister. I cherish the good friends who walk my path with me and am committed to growing my local community. And I am ready to find a partner to enjoy life with after taking some time to heal from an abusive relationship. Had I valued myself 25 years ago the way I do now, I would have made different choices. And I am so grateful for my daughters that this is also a paradox. 

Honor and value yourself in every situation. It is not your job to make another person happy. 

Vocation 

Your choice of work doesn’t not need to be just one thing. We used to all be generalists who had a lot of practical knowledge and were far more self-reliant than we are in today’s society where most of our daily needs are outsourced to others. Every man learned trigonometry so that he could build his own house. 

The late anthropologist David Graeber, author of Bullshit Jobs, alerts us to the fact that many high paying jobs are pointless. He describes bullshit jobs as: “useless jobs that no one wants to talk about”. This may offend you but I witness that many of my clients are making good money doing a bullshit job. Their soul is nudging them to make a change. They want to make a positive impact on the world, not just do pointless work. We have a crisis of meaninglessness in this world and I think bullshit jobs are a big part of it. 

What do you love to do? What gifts do you want to share? How do you invest your free time? 

As you ponder these questions, remember the story of Buckminster Fuller. He was a young, broke father who decided to end his life, when a voice told him, “Your life is not your own.” At that moment he dedicated his life to serving humanity and adding as much value as he could. His intention was to demonstrate what one average, not so special, man could do in a lifetime. 

For me, “I intend in 2024 to use my gifts and talents to impact as many people positively as possible.” With a clear intention like this, your spirit will guide you to discover your unique gifts and talents and present amazing opportunities that you cannot imagine in this moment. 

Recreation

I strongly encourage you to find outlets for recreation in the real world, not the fake world of social media, movies, TV, or gaming.  I don’t judge people for wanting to escape this crazy upside down world and anesthetize themselves with entertainment. But this is junk entertainment. Like junk food, it will fill your time but not nourish you. It also will subtlety make you believe that violence, promiscuity, and consumerism is normal. Protect your personal values as you engage with media of any kind. 

If you are not sure how you want to invest your free time, look at it as the opportunity to learn something new, gain a new skill, play games and sports with friends, be in nature, grow your own food. The list is endless. Try something new every week. We are trained to be bored in this society. Your spirit wants a big adventurous life. Don’t let your fear of failure or looking silly stop you from trying something new. 

It is also a wise choice to have one day of rest, when you are not working or mesmerized by media. Turn off your phone and the TV and get busy living your life where your feet are. 

What fun do you want to have in 2024? What do you want to learn? Are there skills you want to develop? Can you find a local club to join? Rediscover your inner child and play without worrying about an outcome. 

Set Intentions: The Antidote to Drifting

When you have clear intentions in all four areas then you are able to focus your attention on these intentions and block out the noise. There is a lot of noise in our society. Give yourself permission to change your intentions as you evolve. If you cannot get clear on exactly what you desire, focus on the feeling state that you want to experience.

For me, it helps to write my intentions down. I strongly prefer intentions to goals because goals make me a bit tense. When I write down a specific goal (i.e. make $X per month), I feel like I am 100% in control to make it happen. When I write down an intention, I feel like my guardian angels are working with me, guiding me every step of the way. It feels lighter and I am focused more on impact than personal gain. Every venture needs to be profitable to grow, but I am focused on the impact not the financials. 

What intentions do you want to set for 2024? If I can help in any way, reply to this email or set up a coaching conversation.