Intentions and Resolutions-Posted By Derek Olsen

Four weeks into the new year, how's your New Year's Resolution coming along?  Or do you not make resolutions knowing that they usually fail?  Depending on whose study you read, on the average only about 9% of us succeed in keeping our New Year's Resolutions.  A bold proclamation at midnight, champagne bottle in hand, doesn’t seem to cut it. From a practical perspective, nothing actually changed between December 31st and January 1st except the numbers on your calendar.  However, from an inspirational perspective, this is a traditional time for looking ahead, getting clear, and setting a fresh course, which The Dede Henley Group supports whole heartedly.   Whatever you're up to in 2011, your success will largely be determined by how you frame it.

Words matter.  The definition of resolve is: “to settle or find a solution to, or decide firmly on a course of action”.  In the past, I've recited New Year's Resolutions with my jaw set, eyebrows furrowed, and fists clenched to demonstrate that this time I'm really, really serious about doing it.  When I'm resolved, I don't budge, and I end up giving up because of my unwillingness to shift, change or adapt.  Resolve comes from the Latin (re)solver: “to solve, or loosen, untie, free up”.  At The Dede Henley Group, we promote achieving goals by loosening up and being free.  The force of willpower alone won't push you all the way through the year.  Instead, let yourself be pulled by something greater.

We invite you to replace the word resolution with intention, which means “an anticipated outcome that aims or guides one's planned actions”.  Get clear about the outcome that's pulling you forward, and aim for a target that excites you.  Start out with the wide view and get up on the balcony.  Being too focused on the details, or down in the weeds, too early can limit you.  Trust that the details will materialize over time.  As you define this, be guided by your values, and what you're most committed to in life, rather than a current situation that you want to change.  We struggle when our motivation is defined by what we don't want-instead of getting clear about what we do want. Whatever you focus on, you will grow.

Choose a theme for the year that supports your intention.  Create a phrase or mantra you'll easily remember that returns you to your intention.  For example, my intention is: “To build physical and financial strength and gain confidence and stability through consistent practices”.  A few months from now I might have trouble remembering all of that.  So my theme is "Strong, stable and steady."  This brings be back to how I want to be in 2011, and from this place I choose what there is to do.

A powerful intention sets the course for the year.  Be gentle with yourself, and re-examine your intentions often. Keep them posted in places to remind you of what you're up to, and remember you do have choice.  There is mystery in what intentions provide, have fun with them, and what lies ahead may surpass your current scope of imagination.

The Hero's Journey-By Dede Henley

“We have not even to risk the adventure alone.  For the heroes of all time have gone before us.  The labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path.  And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a God.  And where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves.  And where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our existence.  And where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.”

-Joseph Campbell The Hero's Journey

Joseph Campbell, who was an American cultural anthropologist, had a lifelong passion for myth.  He spent most of his career exploring how ancient myths like the Hero’s Journey are relevant to modern life. In our work with leaders we use the Hero's Journey as a way of viewing challenges, failures and breakdowns.

Every great adventure movie has the hero’s journey as its backbone.  In “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Dr. Indiana Jones, is hired by the U.S. Government to find the Ark of the Covenant, which is believed to still hold the ten commandments. Unfortunately, agents of Hitler are also after the Ark. Indy, and his ex-flame Marion escape from various close scrapes in a quest that takes them from Nepal to Cairo.  

In the movie, our unwitting hero, Indiana Jones, who is just going along with his life – on the “old road,” so to speak, is called into an adventure. As he moves down into the descent, he is tested, even with a pit of snakes!  And at various times, the whole thing doesn’t seem to be such a great idea.  Still he travels on until he makes the descent, completes the adventure and returns to the community with the gift, the Ark of the Covenant.

Indeed, some of us don’t welcome an “adventure.”  Even as we fall over the edge of the “cliff”, we scratch and scrape in an attempt to go back to our old lives – back up to the old road.  We would welcome sameness.  But, if we persist and keep going, we will come to the bottom, wherein lies the gift. 

The “gift” is what we learn, or gain, whether it is an increase in our maturity and wisdom, or literal lessons along the way.  Once we’ve had a baby, we become a “gift” to soon-to–be mothers:  We have already made this descent.  We know the terrain. Once we’ve made it through the trials of executive leadership, we become a model for other leaders to come.  We know what it takes to keep persevering, to come up and out the other side onto higher ground.  This is the nature of the hero’s journey.

Our job is to return back to our community with the gift.  To bring something of value back.  To know that our ordeals count for something remarkable.  This is what gives us access to power. We are not hapless victims of circumstance.  We are heroes.