The importance of setting an intention

Breaking out of a period of inaction is hard.  Harder than we generally talk about.  We romanticize quitting a job.  Who hasn’t dreamed of storming into their boss’s office and tendering their resignation with dramatic flair? But the reality is, that’s easier said than done.

Liz was stuck in a job that she knew wasn’t right for her.  However, the security of a steady paycheck was hard to give up.

She had the idea for a business.  That idea felt so right, but it also felt exhausting and overwhelming.  In the moment, the idea felt much bigger than she had capacity for given that she was working full time. 

She could have gotten hung up there.  Not being able to jump into her idea fully, she could have just stayed in a period of inaction indefinitely.  But, she didn’t. 

A simple action turned out to be a vital step in her journey.

“I lit a candle, sat down, and thought about what I needed to do at that point,” Liz recalls.

She writes an intention in her journal.

 “I did it as a promise to myself to figure it out,” Liz explains. “I didn’t put pressure on myself to figure it out right at that moment. I didn’t put pressure on myself to start working on this business the next day. I left it there in that journal just trusting that making that promise in that moment was the beginning of something.”

It was a solitary, almost ceremonial moment. From Liz’s perspective, it’s not so important how you set the intention but that you make a commitment in that moment to follow it through. Whatever magic inhabited that intention, it worked.

Her business, a Tarot business, is now her full-time job.  It’s growing too.  Her success has led to Liz giving talks about tarot at conferences and events around North America, including Toronto, Montreal, Portland, and New York City. She’s written horoscopes for Flare Magazine, and last year she was featured in Flare's How I Made It list, which is a roundup of 100 women with "cool jobs" in Canada. She’s also currently working on her second book about Tarot.

Liz credits her ability to commit to this endeavour for her success.  That commitment started with a promise to herself, with an intention.