You Certainly Had Good Intentions
As entrepreneurs, we generate ideas on the daily. We can't help it; it's how our flavor of the brain operates.
For years, with great intention, ideas would come to mind, and we would try with the very being of our souls to remember them. Then, we learned that writing them down with pen and paper would keep them safe. We could mentally set them down so we could work on generating new and improved ideas!
There is a bottomless dark pit where your ideas go to die.
On the surface, we call them notebooks. You know the ones:
- The motivational cover notebooks - You've Got This!
- The 5-star five-subject notebooks that allow us or organize them by category - how our brains LOVE that!
- The moleskin or bullet journal style that comes with a built-in system. - Ooh, another way to organize!
- Or you are a Composition or Arc style user. Absolute opposites!
[No, yellow legal pads are not notebooks but work in a pinch. BTW *post-it notes are the devil. I'll digress in the footnotes]
Phew, we feel relieved that our life-changing idea is now in a safe place, and we can take a deep breath in and slowly exhale. Ahhhh
We then peer over at our devices, and the red notification glares at us. It's like being watched by a beloved pet while eating dinner. What is on the other side of that notification?
- A celebration?
- Someone's breakfast?
- Could it be an opportunity?
- Colleagues that got together and your invite got lost?
- Or there is a new Ted Lasso gif that will have you snorting out loud with laughter.
Screw you, immediate gratification! [raises fist]
And there it dies. That dopamine-inducing idea that would revolutionize your business dies a slow, non-revenue-generating death, left to be just ink on trees.
You certainly had good intentions.
There is another reason for these brilliant ideas scribed beautifully in the organization of letters to fade away from our intentions. Our brains LOVE a 
challenge. But, if it's too easy, it's B-O-R-I-N-G; and if over-ambitious, it's disheartening.
Acknowledging our strengths and weaknesses will help us set realistic, attainable goals.
We need our goal to be challenging within our zone of manageability. Or as my **second leading man James Clear says, "…researchers discovered that what pulls that desire out of you and turns it into real–world action isn't your level of motivation, but rather your plan for implementation."
Again, simple but not easy.
Our brains tend to set abstract goals when we would benefit from them being more specific. When goals are more specific, we gain clarity in the direction we want to go. Specific goals are short-term, repeatable tasks with flexibility that are more sustainable for our minds to repeat.
Humans need help to maintain long-term personal goals. It's difficult to solve challenges on our own because our brains often try to solve them the same way over and over again. And, there is no social or cultural pressure to achieve them, AKA accountability. It's why we benefit from an outside perspective and support.
Regardless of intention, we can quit when no one is watching.
Enter the Back To Business Summer Camp! With no tents and no bugs, we'll set clear goals and tasks to work ON your business, with the support of six like-hearted entrepreneurs committed to doing the same. There are only a few seats left, and one of them is yours. Join us!
If you have goals and need support turning them into intentional action, join us: https://chickbookcreative.com/back-to-business-summer-camp
Jamie Chapman BIO:
Owner at Chickbook | Creative Transforming entrepreneurial ideas to profit as a business consultant. Strategic Advisor | Collaborator | Panelist | Speaker | Leader | Brain Geek
Talks about #brainstorming, #creativeminds, #womeninbusiness, #entrepreneurship, and #growingbusinesses Talks about #brainstorming, #creativeminds, #womeninbusiness, #entrepreneurship, and #growingbusinesses
Photo credits: @Pexels: George Milton / Cottonbro Studio @cottonbro / Michael Blomkvist / Maria Tyutina @maria.looming