Our Ho‘ohana Language of Intention: Are we talking about the same thing?

WORK is one of the most commonplace words in use. That means it comes with an awful amount of baggage. There are far too many negative connotations being spoken in connection with the word “work,” and in the design of your Ho‘ohana you need them to be positive and energizing instead.

Therefore, it helps enormously to create a new vocabulary around the concept of work. In doing so, you begin with a clean slate of sorts, a language of intention which is much more useful whether you use it out loud or in your self-talk: Words become triggers which remind you to DO what you say, and BE who you want to be, with both the doing and saying originating in new definitions. You don’t take anything for granted anymore, least of all the words which come out of your mouth. When you say them, you also listen to them, and you self-coach yourself. “Oh yeah, that’s what I was intending to do.” You bring everything back to intention, so intention can trigger attention —your priceless attention, and where you give it.

Best of all, as far as everyone else views this, you honor your good word.

Let’s start the Ho‘ohana Writing Process with this as the Ho‘ohana Language of Intention we agree upon:

WORK —what I intend to do for me, myself and I. When I “work on something” I am working on something useful or important to me in some way.

I work for my purpose, a purpose that is clear to me. I work on-purpose, no more “going through the motions,” no more “paying my dues” or “earning my stripes,” and no more “biding my time.” Even when I work within a job I feel stuck with (for the time being as a transitional time) I am learning as much as I can, learning which is connected with the experience, skills, or knowledge I will use in the future.

JOB —a description of what I am presently paid to deliver, whether via a paycheck from someone else (the company I am employed by), or via profits (that come from me, whether self-employed, or self-financed in some way).

It is helpful to look at jobs in the plural sense more than as one job, with “delivery” figuring more prominently. Each job is a collection of tasks that deliver cash flow for you: That’s life. Money is the transactional currency you need to finance the living of your life. Plural is helpful, for the more revenue streams you have the better (the sage advice to diversify; “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” as they say.)

ALOHA —about me living with authenticity in a world populated with other people. We human beings were not meant to live alone; we thrive in each other’s company. Aloha celebrates everything that makes me who I am (and who I am valued as by others in the world we share).

Aloha is a gift; you are as good as it gets and you need not try to be someone else. Aloha is living with the truth —the good truth— of who you already are, and it works in a phenomenal partnership with the value of Ho‘ohana; let’s expand a bit on the definition we started with.

HO‘OHANA —about me making my living in our world in the way that gives me daily direction and intention and leaves me with a feeling of personal fulfillment every day —not just when I have accomplished large goals. Every day is satisfying to me, for I know how my work every day is connected to my Ho‘ohana.

This is what it now sounds like when we put this language of intention all together:

“Ho‘ohana is not about career, it is about best-possible livelihood. My work is daily, and it has to do with breaking down my Ho‘ohana intentions into daily chunks of accomplishment that are useful and satisfying to me as I get them done. Meanwhile, my jobs (think plural, and both paid to self and by others) aggregate as the income I realistically need. In the spaces in between my job commitments to others, I work on the Ho‘ohana I do strictly for me and my own purposes.”

“I have the best situation possible, when jobs, work, and Ho‘ohana (by these new definitions) are all one and the same for me. It is in this best situation possible that my innately authentic spirit of aloha truly begins to shine and figure prominently into my relationships with other people, and into virtually every single manifestation of how I live my life as the gift it is.”

Sounds good, doesn’t it!

Here’s what I want you to do in the coming week:

1. At the end of your day, see how you can break up the words WORK and JOB within our bigger, plural definitions. What have you done as your WORK? What are the different kinds of JOBs you have been tackling all about achieving? You may surprise yourself within this process; go ahead and pat yourself on the back with how much you are actually handling on a daily basis!

One word of caution with this: Do NOT start with a To Do list and attempt to check things off. This listing should be a stream-of-consciousness exercise you do with a blank sheet of paper or fresh Word doc on your laptop. If you refer to anything at all, it should just be the new definitions of our Ho‘ohana Language of Intention.

2. Next, level a more critical eye on your listing: What did you really enjoy, with definite purpose or intention in your actions, and what is in that category of auto-pilot and going through the motions for you? Can those energies be re-directed? And if so, where would you re-direct them to?

Simply journal your daily results. Next Tuesday we will look at them through the lens of your values.

We Ho‘ohana together, Kākou.

~Rosa

Postscript:
If you are just now joining us, Aloha and welcome!
This is Essay #3 for Ho‘ohana; be sure to read Ho‘ohana: Redefine the word “work” and make it yours.

Essay #2 was Why Bother with Ho‘ohana, and “Worthwhile Work” at all?

NEXT TUESDAY, SEPT. 16: Defining our Personal Values
There is one more definition we should talk about, a word I have used quite a bit up to now: INTENTION. Intention is powerful stuff; and thus intention is a great thing to learn to harness and use. Our intentions have their origins in our values.

Comments

[Chris Bailey]

Rosa, I love the clarity you bring to the distinction between work and job. They truly are two different concepts that can propel us in different directions.

You've also answered the question of whether it's possible to bring an intentional work to a job. Even in the midst of doing something that doesn't immediately appear to be connected to our intentional livelihood, we can still find our soulful work.

Wonderful post! This series makes my Tuesdays all the more special.

[Rosa Say]

Thank you Chris. "Soulful work" is (and forever will be) a phrase I have always associated with you, and it is such a direct hit to the aloha within us: It is a fabulous language of intention of your creation (and quite a profound one).

Words are so powerful, and when we can attach meaningful ones to our own personal intentions it begins to seem that the world conspires in our favor in a plethora of unforeseen ways.