03.30.2022
Tags: #Big_Picture_Ideas
Links: The concepts that drive my life > Intention
Intention then
implementation
I feel like this concept is quite an important one that I have stumbled upon fairly
recently. It really feels like it all started when I first looked into obsidian and
Zettlekasten in the first place. The idea of how things are connected truly
fascinated me and I wanted to think about it more and more.
Not only did I find the idea of a "web of knowledge" pretty cool, but there has
been something else bothering me recently. It really started when I was filling
out my daily stats and I was putting the values in for what my diet was for the
day when I realized, "Why the hell am I doing this, what does a 4 out of 5 on
my daily diet even mean?". This question bugged me, but I just filed it away in
my task inbox as something to be looked after at a latter date. But then it really
started eating at me. "Why do I do the things that I do?". I think just over a few
days of marinating in the back of my head I slowly started to realize the
magnitude of what this question actually meant. I started to ask the question
"Why?" whenever I did anything, and the more I answered the more I realized
all my ideas were connected together at some point or another.
The idea that all these seemingly separate topics need to connect is something
that I also just stumbled upon, but a bit further back than when I came up with
the idea of intention and implementation. I felt as though all the ideas I had
were really just disconnected, and that I would try to focus on one idea only to
fail and throw it to the side.
I think that intentionality is the link between all of my ideas. I had been looking
for a strong bridge to cross the gap and I think that this may be it. Whenever I
would ask myself why, I would be shuttled through the network of all my ideas.
Let's look at an example so you can see what I mean.
I ask myself every morning why do I take a cold shower. Well I take a cold
shower because it helps build my discipline. Okay, but why do I need to build
any discipline? That one is easy, discipline is very important for keeping me on
track with my goals, and doing things even though I may not always want to do
them. Why do I want to stay on track with my goals? The only way to actually
achieve my goals is through being consistent in what I do over a long period of
time. Okay but why do I want to achieve my goals? I want to achieve my goals
because my goals are important to reaching my true dream. Sure that is great
but why do you want a dream? Well that is the whole purpose for being alive
obviously!
From just asking a simple question about taking a shower, we managed to really
get up there and discuss the meaning of life! That is why the question of "Why?"
is truly so powerful. It can act as a map of thoughts, feelings and ideas. A good
way to really make sure that what your doing is the right thing for you is by just
seeing if the actions your taking right now link back up to a larger part of your
life. If they don't then well maybe you shouldn't spend your time doing it as
much. Why do you eat chips all day? Well I like to eat them. Okay why do you
like to eat them? uhh they taste good? As you can see, the intentions behind the
things we can do can either stretch on up to our purpose in life, or it can be
pretty open and shut.
Now before we continue with implementation, I just wanted to make a quick
disclaimer. I do realize that this line of thinking requires a bit of honesty. Often
times the people that are addicted to things will rationalize what they are doing
to avoid guilt. If you asked them why they are doing something, they will give
you an answer that makes them sound 100% confident that they are truly doing
what is best for them. While it can be tricky to always say what may be best for
you, there are a lot of obvious examples of things that really shouldn't be
something that you try and justify. False justifications are very real, and
something that anyone can fall into so it is important to always be vigilant.
Though to be fair, if you are working hard to improve yourself, you already have
a good amount of maturity and honesty with yourself to begin with, otherwise
you wouldn't even be trying to change! Maturity isn't really something anyone
can teach, it is just one of those things that ripen with age. (Hopefully, some
people never get there.)
Now that the idea of intentionality is kinda sorta well understood, I would like to
move onto the idea of implementation. This idea thankfully is much easier to
explain and thus will require a lot less writing.
Once you have an idea in your head, and have determined it to be a good idea
after questioning your intentions, all you have left to do is simply ask "How do I
do this?". If you want bonus points you can even ask yourself, "How do I BEST
do this?". That is pretty much it. I can't really offer much advice as to how to
best solve your problems since every problem is unique to every person. I also
can't give you an IQ test to determine your logical thinking, but I trust you. That
is pretty much all there is to it, just cold, dead logic. This is one reason why I
love the philosophy of stoicism so much, because it helps with this very idea.
Using logic to dissolve our issues to see how we can best put them back
together. The topic of stoicism is vast, and better saved for more writings, but all
you need to know here is that stoicism is the main vehicle that I use in order tp
solve most* of my issues.
I really love the idea of intention then implementation because it truly gives you
a strong sense of Clarity, another idea I hold in very high regard. By linking
together ideas by asking questions, we can get a better picture of how we
operate as a whole, and once we understand that we can use these systems to
reach our goals.