Jim Carey the American comedian, artist, and actor said, “It’s our intention. Our intention is everything. Nothing happens on this planet without it. Not one single thing has ever been accomplished without intention.”

Often we walk through life on autopilot. This can be great during times of stress when decision-making is hard, but in general, it’s more productive to be intentional. I’m not saying we always must be productive, certainly in my life, I’ve been utterly non-productive when I needed to be on autopilot.

A free class about well-being

When I think about what Jim Carey had to say about intention I think about what I’ve learned about happiness. I took a class using the app Coursera about happiness; it was presented by Yale professor Laurie Santos. The course is called, “The Science of Well-Being” and what I learned is that all the things we imagine equal happiness are not what truly ends up being an important factor in happiness. How can that be?

What is happiness and what happiness isn’t

Certainly, if you have money concerns, having more money will make you happier. I know this from experience. When I was 23 I had two kids, a toddler and an infant. We had one income, and we struggled financially. Years later, I was divorced, my kids were living their own life and out of college, I was a professional living with my professional boyfriend and we had a lot of disposable income. I can assure you that having enough money to pay all my bills with enough left over to travel anywhere in the world for a few weeks was better. I was happier because I eliminated money troubles from my day-to-day life.

But unlimited amounts of money do not equal happiness. Look up the unfortunate examples of lottery winners. There is a lot of unhappiness amongst that rare subset of society. In fact, when scholars studied the effect of money on happiness they found that there is a plateau. Once a person earns around $75,000 annually their happiness doesn’t increase with additional earnings.

What else can make us happy? You may think a great car, perhaps a vacation, or a swell wardrobe. But according to Yale professor Laurie Santos, things don’t make us happy.

Focus

What makes us happy on a consistent basis is focus. A Harvard study conducted by Daniel Gilbert and Matthew Killingsworth showed that people are happier when they are immersed in what they are doing versus distracted. How did they measure this? They sent a cell phone notification to thousands of volunteers, asked them how they felt, and asked if they were focused on the task they were doing of if they were distracted. The participants who were the most happy were the participants who were focused on the task at hand. This seems simple, perhaps too simple, but from my own experience, I believe this study nailed how we can become more satisfied in our lives.

If focus is equal to happiness, then intention is the mechanism we can use to not only be happier but also be productive in areas of our lives that have meaning to us.

It’s all well and good to be focused when doing mundane tasks like chores, but if you have a big project, doing the dishes, or procrasticleaning as I like to call it, won’t get you to the goal line. You may be happier, but you’ll not raise a barn, plow a field, write the great American novel, or earn a bachelor’s degree, or Ph.D. if you are focused on happiness via the kitchen sink.

How can you use the idea of focus aligned with intention to be more productive?

Try the following –

·       List the three most important things you must do each morning. For example, today I must finish this blog post and post it, exercise, and create a Valentine’s Day card for my spouse to go with the fabulous dessert I’ve planned for him. Each day has a few very important tasks that I must complete.

·       Focus solely on the task at hand. When I’m watercolor painting my spouse’s Valentine’s Day card, I’ll only be watercolor painting his card, I won’t juggle a phone call, answer emails, or plan anything, I’ll just paint.

·       Set a time limit. Time limits force action and frame it into a reasonable amount of time to accomplish what is important. If you don’t give yourself enough time you’ll become frustrated. If you allow too much time you’ll become complacent. I know from experience that it will take about three hours to paint a watercolor card from start to finish.

·       Savor the conclusion. When I finish any form of art, I step back and admire the work I’ve done. I allow myself a moment to reflect on the design, how well I integrated the components of my effort, and reflect on what the piece may mean to the person I share it with.

 

 As you can see there is nothing complicated in my effort. I do everything I can to ensure I’m focused when I’m working, and I avoid ‘multitasking” which is impossible. Humans may think they are doing several tasks all at once but what they are really doing is task switching, which is naturally reducing focus and making a person less happy.

What do you think is important?

Consider what you think is important to you. Perhaps you have a big project that you want to complete, maybe you need to earn more money, or you may be looking for love. Most things that are important to you are achievable, but you must have intention. You must decide what you want and pursue it with focus. How can you know what you want? That is tough. Most people don’t know what they want. Try this, consider what makes you really unhappy in your life right now, and then use intention to change that thing that makes you feel unhappy.

Examples of experiences that can lead to unhappiness are poor health, a bad relationship with a lover, children, parents, or in-laws, and a lack of resources like money, food, or adequate housing. Poor economic opportunity can lead to dissatisfaction. Lack of control apparently isn’t an issue for many in terms of happiness; make sure to watch Daniel Gilbert’s Ted Talk to understand this.

Let’s say you are unhappy with your health. You can be intentional in your effort to overcome your health issues. You may not solve your health challenge with intention, but I can tell you from my own experience with autoimmune challenges, I’m happier whenever I feel as though I have worked towards a better outcome.

What if you are lamenting the strain your relationship has been experiencing? You can seek relationship counseling, you can try to understand what is missing and work to make improvements, and you can decide that the relationship has run its course and decide to end it. You have choices, and you can be intentional about how you move through the world so you can find happiness.

Finally, try to be intentional in the most important tasks you undertake. Because as Jim Carey said, nothing gets done without intention.