Intention and Vigilance

By Doug. Swanson, M. Sc. - BMGA Program Leader - Human Performance

The effort of achievers in pursuing their dreams can fittingly be reduced to two primary tasks: 1) doing what you need to do and 2) evaluating how well you did what you set out to do. Doing what you need to do is having INTENTION. Evaluating how well you did what you set out to do is VIGILANCE.

Intention
Hope is a very good breakfast, but it makes for a terrible supper.

Many people wake up each day with hope in their hearts. It is a good to begin the day with aspirations. Aspiring to do something is a beginning. Unfortunately, many of those same people arrive at the end of the day with only hope in their heart. The great beginning to the day dissolved into little more than wishful thinking. We are advised to begin each day with hope and then DO SOMETHING that will move us in the direction that we aspire to go.

Intention is having purpose. It is about "intending" to do something. When working with athletes I ask them to begin each day with intention. I ask them to do something everyday that moves them closer to their goal. This request is not to be more demanding of their time and energy but, to demand that their goals, dreams and aspirations "get their attention", in some small way, every day.

Intention has many "easy" applications to sport. What do you intend to do in your practice? What do you intend to do in your warm-up? What do you intend to do in your game? Intention centres us for the activity. From intention, we can commit to the labor of growth and development; for it is only through labor that growth and development can occur, and I think it must occur with intention. When I coached track and field we began our competitions with, "Plan your race, to race your plan". In golf we say, "Plan your play, to play your plan".

Additional questions can focus our intention:

Do I intend to get out of the comfort zone in practice?
Do I intend to be better after practice than I was before practice
Do I intend to be the performer in the game?
Do I intend to make a difference in the game?

Vigilance
Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. It comes to us (way past our bedtime) and is VERY clean. It is perfect when it arrives and its puts itself in our hands. It hopes we have learned something from yesterday.

I love the sentiment about the day beginning "VERY clean". I also love the notion that we will contaminate the day if we have not learned something from yesterday. That's vigilance -appraising one's effort! Clearly we can have much better intention if we have appraised our efforts of yesterday. Determining what our intention was and how that intention did (or did not) contribute to our growth towards our "goal" helps the individual create new intentions. Being ever vigilant helps the athlete learn to self-evaluate. "Did I do something today that moved me closer to my goal" is the perfect question after one's supper. If the athlete has started breakfast with hope and has eaten supper with a day of toil, the answer is clearly yes. With vigilance, then, the athlete can decide "if" the right work was being done, in the right measure, with the right intention. This evaluation then prepares the athlete to create intention tomorrow so that one does not contaminate an otherwise beautiful day.

Additional questions to enhance vigilance:

Was I good for the team?
Was I good for me?
Was I good for my community?
Did I behave, learn, develop and grow?
What can I do tomorrow to help my teammates and myself become champions?

It seems clear to me that intention and vigilance are effective partners that initiate and terminate our activities. With careful attention to being INTENTIONAL we increase the likelihood that we will grow. With thoughtful analysis of our efforts we are being VIGILANT about our dream. Being intentional and vigilant shows great respect for us and our sports. With a willingness to be intentional and to evaluate one's efforts athletes are accepting that they are both responsible and accountable for the outcomes they generate. This process enables the athlete to stay focused, because he/she has purpose, and at the same time facilitates an awareness of the value in being one's own gatekeeper of the dream/aspiration.

The Brent Morrison Golf Academy is located at Pheasant Glen Golf Resort, 1025 Qualicum Road, Qualicum Beach, B.C. V9K 1M5. (250) 752-8786. For more information on instruction programs for adults and juniors, contact the Academy office.

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