How to I.C.E. Your Mission

A dear friend of mine has been struggling with what he should do with his life. While observing and doing my best to help him through this process, the following formula revealed itself to me with stunning clarity:

Mission = Intention + Connection + Execution

It truly is that simple. Anyone can attract the resources and people they need to accomplish anything they want to by living this formula.

Intention

“I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can’t find anybody who can tell me what they want.” -Mark Twain

The first thing my friend struggled with was not knowing what he wanted to be and do for a living. In that state, there was very little I could do to help, other than to empathize and be there for him.

In the absence of a clearly-defined, stated intention, all advice is vacuous and meaningless.

Intention defines context and puts appropriate resources at our disposal automatically. We’re surrounded by everything we need to accomplish our mission: people, tools, resources, money, etc.

It’s all available, but we don’t even know what we need until we define what we want to do.

Immediately upon determining intention, the universe moves to to help us.

In the case of my friend, he determined that he wanted to become an artist through photography and videography. As soon as he stated that intention, the floodgates of opportunity opened and I was able to help.

For example, I can help him build a website and market effectively.

These skills were abstract and meaningless without the context of his intention. Suddenly, they became concrete and critical.

Connection

“First, you have to be visible in the community. You have to get out there and connect with people. It’s not called net-sitting or net-eating. It’s called networking. You have to work at it.” -Ivan Misner, Founder of Business Networking International

After defining our intention, the next step is to gather the resources we need to fulfill it. Connection is vital at this stage. By connection, I refer to our relationships and network.

The more people we’re connected with, the more resources are available to us. The broader and deeper our connections, the quicker and more direct our path to success.

For example, in Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson speaks of his immense struggle to fund schools for girls in Pakistan.

Living with “monkish frugality” and writing hundreds of letters, Greg scrambled to accomplish his goal. Finally, he connected with Jean Hoerni, a wealthy physicist and inventor, who promptly funded his first school, and later helped Greg create the Central Asia Institute with a large endowment, as well as an annual salary for Greg.

This is where Hub Mentality™ makes all the difference.

Everyone should be implementing the principles of Hub Mentality™ — even people without clearly-defined goals.

Hub Mentality™ helps you put infrastructure in place that can be leveraged at any point. The longer you wait to build a hub, the more people and resources are lost to you.

Execution

“There is no substitute for hard work.” -Thomas Edison

You know where you want to go. Through your connections, you have access to the resources you need. The only thing left is to execute with discipline and perseverance.

In a recent article, Carl Woolston detailed fallacies about the “law of attraction,” as found in media such as The Secret.

What attraction gurus often fail to explain is the hard work involved in the process. Defining and intention and visualizing a goal are certainly good first steps, but they are nothing but wishful thinking without execution.

You don’t have to be intelligent, famous, or wealthy to execute. You must simply be determined. The more you stick with your goal, the more doors open for you, the more you learn, the more you streamline and simplify and improve.

Do You Want It?

I’ll conclude with a thought from an anonymous author:

“When you want a thing bad enough to go and fight for it, to work day and night for it, to give up your sleep and your time for it;

“if only the desire of it makes your aim strong enough never to tire from it, if life seems all empty and useless without it, and all that you dream and you scheme is about it;

“if gladly you’ll sweat for it, fret for it, plan for it, pray with all your strength for it;

“if you’ll simply go after the thing that you want with all your capacity, strength and sagacity; faith hope, and confidence, stern persistency;

“if neither poverty nor cold, nor famish, nor gaunt, nor sickness of pain to body or brain can turn you away from the aim that you want;

“if dogged and grim you beseige and beset it…

“You’ll get it.”

What do you want? Do you have the resources and connections you need to achieve it? Do you have the discipline to achieve it?

Remember: Intention + Connection + Execution = The Fulfillment of Mission

Action Steps & Resources:

• Read this article on vision to help you with creating intention
• Watch this free recorded webinar on Hub Mentality™
• Implement the principles of Hub Mentality™, beginning with blogging and social networking
• Read Self-Reliance by Emerson and Let Your Life Speak by Palmer
• Find a mentor who has done what you want to do and formalize a mentoring relationship with them

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Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and persuasive writer with KGaps Consulting, a co-founder of The Center for Social Leadership, and the New York Times best-selling co-author of Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.

He is a liberal-arts graduate of George Wythe University and a graduate of the “non-traditional business school” Wizard Academy.

Stephen resides in Round Rock, Texas with his gorgeous wife Karina, awesome son Alex, and princess daughters Libby, Avery, and Laela. Stephen and Karina blog about their magical life on Palmer Journeys.

Connect With Stephen:

Email: spalmer [at] kgaps [dot] com