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Why do some enterprises succeed and others fail? Why are some dreams realized while others fade or crash upon rocks? In the majority of cases of successful enterprise a central principle is at work. This principle I have termed Sustained Intentionality. When I was four years old and confined to the Northern Wilderness I dreamed of going to China. I intended to go to China. Nothing less would or could satisfy this longing. So I clung to that intention; I sustained it through reading books from and about China and getting an introduction to the Chinese language. I sustained it through a degree in East Asian (Chinese) Studies. I sustained it through a year of labour during which I saved enough money for a one-way ticket and a few months of living in that foreign environment. I wanted it, set it as a goal and went. It was over twenty years from the first felt impulse of the desire to go until I arrived on that strange soil. When I was twelve I dreamed of attending Princeton Seminary and of becoming an ordained minister. Eighteen years later I was in Princeton studying divinity. The persistent directed action of the human will brings results. This activity is akin to the primal urge to hunt. But it has evolved into a capacity to pursue less concrete and more elusive prey. I have dreamed many such dreams: to become a baseball player; a runner; a martial artist; an intellectual; a musician; a father; a husband; a lover; a man. And I have realized (made real) these and many other dreams both large and small. Throughout this spectrum of realized dreams runs the thread of Sustained Intentionality. To focus the Will and to ignore the distractions and avoid the wrong choices while remaining focused upon the goal - here is the heart of the matter. The results have been staggering. Inevitably the reality by far outstrips the dream in richness and in satisfaction. The realization of each and every dream has required sacrifices and suffering. Yet it is always the result that sticks with me. Never the cost. It seems that any worthwhile enterprise will be met with impediments and obstacles. These bring discouragement, distractions and distress. In such times and situations faith is an important tool or asset. To believe in oneself. To believe in the enterprise or undertaking. To believe in one’s duty and responsibility. To believe in God. Belief breaks through and can prevail over insecurity and unbelief. When all voices say, “You cannot!” still the more compelling Voice says, “You must!” Some human dreams are above and beyond the mundane scope of daily life. Some encompass the world and the ages; while others fix upon small comforts and necessities. These larger dreams have captured the imagination of the human race from ages past. And still such dreams are born in the minds and hearts of children of all ages. Whatever the dream may be, if we are able to believe in it, we can probably shape reality so as to grasp the dream, to make it, to live it. If we believe, the resources will come and they will include the rational analytical methods that can mould the dream into tangible material existence. I have dreamed of sitting here in a chair I made with may own hands, at a table I roughly crafted, in the midst of an interesting and loving family, encompassed by friends, with God smiling upon me, a pen in hand and paper beneath. I have dreamed of sitting here in winter with the window open to the chirping of birds. But the heart of the dream is the free and freeing expression of my own heart in sincere and loving tones. I have been driven by steady determination for over thirty years, moving always towards this Moment and others like it, of which there have been many. Sustained Intentionality is akin to welding metal. I understand that in welding there is a place amidst the molten metal created by the process which is called “the puddle”. The trick is to keep your eye upon the puddle. So with the welding together of elements to create a material or experiential expression of the dream. The dreamer must keep focused upon the dream as the welder must focus upon the puddle, the place where the weld is actualized. Without this focus, the metal (and the dream) will shatter with the application of stress. Another important aspect of Sustained Intentionality is the refusal to take no for an answer and a committed determination to succeed. For at the root of this pursuit of dreams lays a primal human impulse - desire. We can get what we want, no matter how absurd or convoluted the desire may be. Most, if not all, people wonder how they can get what they want . Sustained Intentionality is an effective way to do it, to get it, to be it. Many people do not believe that dreams can be made to come true: neither their own dreams, nor those of others. Consequently, as most dreams require co-operation and a united effort, your dreams, like mine, will meet with opposition. This is a difficult hurdle to clear in any enterprise - the disbelief of others. You suddenly find yourself pitching a wonderful dream to people incapable of seeing and believing it. Happily it is just that - a hurdle which must, can and will be overcome. One of the great destroyers of our dreams is our belief that we cannot muster the will, the energy, the people and resources necessary for a successful outcome. In the pursuit of small dreams (which is a good place to begin by the way) the requirements will be minimal. Then press on to larger and larger dreams and their greater demands. In this way we have the opportunity to sound the true depths of our own potential and that of others, rather than standing frozen in fear with sounding line dangling from our idle hand. Sail on. Explore. Conquer. Learn. Teach. Live. Share. Love. Love yourself and love your work. The power of the will is vital in the realization of dreams. If we can but say “I will do it!”, this exertion of the will can provide sufficient momentum to reach the goal, no matter how lofty. If you can dream it, you can do it. Obstacles, Setbacks and Failures Every enterprise and undertaking will meet with obstacles, setbacks and failures. I understand it required over six hundred experiments before Edison invented a light bulb that would work. Then he illuminated the world. Large vision and ambition combined with determination and faith and commitment found a solution that has changed the world dramatically. When obstacles or apparent failures occur, stay focused on “the puddle” - your purpose or intentions. This is discipline and will produce fruit. When you lose sight of your goal (and you will) or become convinced it is impossible, be patient with yourself, life and God. The vision, if it has substance and merit, will return. From that point onward you will reach higher, for in some way failures and obstacles are like ascending stairs to the goal. I’ve heard that George Washington lost almost every battle of the American Revolutionary War, but won the last one and, with it, the war. The Scope of Desire Desire is a natural and normal function of a human body. It is true that people’s desires become twisted so that we can want what is unhealthy, unproductive and unloving. But these are mere wounds upon the soul, they are not the soul itself: who you are is inside all of the twisted and cruel wreckage that so often dictates the decisions and behaviour of people everywhere. Within is the helpless child who emerged from the womb. This person has desires that are innate and necessary. In many cases people will find it necessary to clear the wreckage of inappropriate desire in order to be able to reach to their true desires and their destiny. One of the main tasks in life in order of importance is to remove clutter. Whether physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual or otherwise. If we do not or cannot, we will devote our lives to the maintenance of junk and will not achieve and realize our dreams. In the organizing of our self and our life we get the work done that carries us to our dreams. Sustained Intentionality is not merely a set of tools for success, although it is that. It is an attitude of faith, a lifestyle geared towards the realization and fulfillment of dreams, it is a tide of reality that carries us to our destiny and leaves the debris of achievement laying upon the warm beach of our life. It is an acceptance of the gifts that life, creation and God bestow upon us to better and bless the world. Jake Willis |