Intention & Visualization Worksheet

A director of business development has articulated her career vision many times - in sessions, in networking conversations, in her own notes. It is consistent and well-formed. But it isn't generating energy or action. She describes a flatness between the vision and the present, as if the gap is just too large to feel connected to.

'Section 2 is the one I want you to spend the most time on. Most people write abstract descriptors - successful, fulfilled, in control. I want you to write sensory specifics: what you literally see in that day, what you feel in your body, what's present in the room. The sentence starters are scaffolding. Use them completely.' That instruction targets the level of specificity that distinguishes a vision from a concept.

Section 2 entries that are evaluative rather than sensory: 'I feel successful' or 'I am achieving my goals' rather than 'I feel clearheaded in meetings because I'm not second-guessing my direction' or 'I see my calendar with two days per week protected for external work.' Abstract entries in Section 2 indicate the vision hasn't been made concrete enough to create pull.

Start with Section 3 - the intentional actions she's currently taking. 'Read this to me. For each one: is this something you are actually doing right now, or something you intend to do?' That distinction between current action and intended action usually surfaces the gap between what she's written and what's operationally true. Section 4 - what has already moved in her direction - is a useful place to end: it grounds the vision in evidence rather than aspiration.

A VP of marketing has a clear sense of where he wants to take his career and a daily schedule that bears almost no relationship to it. He is busy, effective at his current level, and can describe his future direction. But when asked what he did this week that moved toward that vision, the answer is consistently 'not much.'

Use Section 3 as the entry point. 'Before we fill in the vision sections, I want to ask you one question: what are you currently doing, intentionally, that moves toward what you want? Write those in Section 3 first.' Starting with the action section rather than the vision section immediately surfaces the action gap without requiring the vision to be criticized. The gap becomes visible when action is honest.

Section 3 entries that are general role responsibilities ('managing my team,' 'running campaigns') rather than directed efforts toward a future state. General responsibilities are not intentional actions toward a vision - they are the current job. Watch for Section 4 to be populated with things that happened by chance ('got introduced to an interesting contact') rather than as a result of deliberate effort.

Compare Section 1 (what he's working toward) to Section 3 (what he's actually doing). Read both aloud. Then: 'On a scale of 1 to 10, how much does Section 3 support Section 1?' That question makes the misalignment quantitative without being confrontational. Then: 'What's one thing you could move into Section 3 this week that would change that number?'

A founder of a consulting firm does a lot of things. She runs her business well, pursues interesting projects, invests in relationships. When asked what she's working toward specifically, she gives a general answer - growth, more interesting clients, sustainability. She has high energy and low direction. Her actions are good; their cumulative effect is unclear.

Frame this as a targeting exercise, not a motivation exercise. 'You don't have an action problem. You have a targeting problem. This worksheet asks you to name what you're manifesting specifically enough that you'd recognize it when it arrived - and then it asks what you're currently doing toward that. The goal is not to generate more action. It's to see whether the action you already have is pointed at the right thing.'

Section 1 entries that are categories rather than states: 'a thriving business' versus 'a business where I have two months of operating runway and two anchor clients I'm proud of.' The specificity of Section 1 determines the usefulness of Section 3. Watch for Section 3 to be long and enthusiastic but disconnected from the Section 1 content - a busy Section 3 paired with a vague Section 1 is a misalignment signal.

After she's completed all four sections: 'Look at Section 3 - your current actions. How many of them point directly at what you wrote in Section 1?' That mapping exercise is the core of the debrief. Then: 'What would you need to stop doing in Section 3 to make room for what's actually in Section 1?' For action-oriented clients, the useful question is often about subtraction, not addition.