I’ve been practicing yoga for many years and when you step on the mat, you set an intention for the practice. This creates a space where the practice connects your mind with your body, and offers a purpose beyond simply the physical.
An intention can be a simple word you dedicate your practice to that represents a value you’d like to bring into your life.
We also create a sankalpa; a short affirmation used to bring about positive change. It’s the short term goal to manifesting your reality.
Over time, your actions begin to align with your intentions. When you begin to understand what you are seeking from your practice, you can see how to direct energies and actions to get there.
It’s all about thinking about a value you’d like to bring into your life. So it could be: to show compassion more often, to laugh out loud today, or ditch the FOMO.
As I was practicing yoga recently it occurred to me that we can also set a sankalpa for other areas of our lives, such as moving from unknown to recognised expert.
Here are some ideas for setting your sankalpa for moving into the spotlight.
Acknowledging your blocks
Hey, we all have them in most areas of our lives. How far have you got to in the From Unknown To Expert 5 Star System? Your bio, your speaker’s profile, your blog…but not got any further. Maybe it’s time to start setting your intention each week to move forward. Send out your speaker’s profile or brainstorm those story ideas.
Taking a step everyday
Maybe your sankalpa is simply taking a step every day that acknowledges the value you can offer your community. The more people that share their ideas, opinions and knowledge, the better the world will be.
Stop comparing yourself to other people
While it can be great motivation to benchmark yourself against others, it can also result in living a smaller life because you don’t step up and move beyond “why does she have it, and I don’t”.
Curate content
Sounds simple: create and share content that’s valuable to your community. One way to raise awareness about your personal brand is to link to useful content – content that your followers want to share with their friends.
PR and media coverage
Amplify your PR. Posting media coverage is another great indirect promotion strategy. In this way you are providing people with an interesting read, which is also relevant to your brand and business.
Intentions and sankalpas aren’t uttered once and then forgotten about. In yoga, during challenging poses, we call forth our intention and allow it to power us through the posture.
In the same fashion, when you are having difficulty in your Unknown To Expert strategy, once your sankalpa is set, you’ll be able to call it forth when you need it, to guide your decisions and actions.