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Honest Intent Inspires Authentic Goals

We create our future in the present moment, so it is extremely important for us to be honest with both our current situation and what we are willing to do to achieve our dreams.

Intentions influence our actions and behaviors. If intentions are established with awareness, truth, and meaning, they help us experience a life filled with passion and personal fulfillment. Lack of understanding around our true intentions often causes frustration and confusion, which is one reason people oftentimes do not achieve their goals. Many goals are written; however, they are not established with honest intent. It’s time to get brutally honest about your true intentions so you can achieve authentic goals.

Honest intentions become even more important as we age; Our well-being depends on our ability to be authentic and true to ourselves.

Intentions have the power to strengthen your Inner Leader and help you move forward in a meaningful way as long as they represent what you truly want to accomplish and experience. Honest intentions, based on personal fulfillment and purpose, can also keep you motivated and focused while measuring progress and celebrating success.

What we truly intend will happen, so I encourage my coaching clients to create SMARTER Intention Statements that support their personal vision.

Create Your Vision to Guide Your Intentions

When working with clients, I encourage them to create the time and space to create what I call a Vivid Visual Vision.   Why?  When done with emotion and intention, a Vivid Visual Vision serves as a guide. It helps transform your mind and beliefs if it has the following elements:

Vivid:  Authentic, clear and powerful emotionally, physically and spiritually. 

Visual:  Imagery that clearly illustrates your wants, needs and desires.

Vision:  Your intentional and holistic dream of the future.  

This process can also help uncover what might be hiding below the surface of who and where you are right now —your personal truth and deepest desires. An honest vision also helps guide the SMARTER Intention process and goal setting. Your intentions and goals help create the present that supports your purposeful future – your vision.

SMARTER Intentions

So, what exactly are SMARTER Intentions? They are statements designed to help you achieve your vision while holding your accountable and having some fun along the way because they are Super Cool, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time Bound, Evolved, and Rewarded. Let’s explore SMARTER Intentions in greater detail:

What we intend will happen. Actions support honest intentions; therefore, all true intent is realized. Intentions become the outcome.

What we intend will happen. Actions support honest intentions; therefore, all true intent is realized. Intentions become the outcome.

Super Cool: Write SMARTER intention statements that clearly outline what you truly need and want to do to make your vision a reality. Make sure you think they are super cool! Personalize your intentions so they tap into your sense of personal fulfillment and passion. What does this mean? You should get totally jazzed about your SMARTER intentions when you read and revisit them. Being true to your passion and purpose will help you stay motivated and focused!

Measurable: Take charge of your progress by building in accountability. Use metrics, numbers and other fun ways to monitor your progress (I like to use stars and smiley faces . Monitoring progress helps you determine what works and what needs change. Great metrics also provide a feedback mechanism that super-charges motivation. Realize your progress so you can celebrate success!

Achievable: Create SMARTER Intention Statements that seem doable to you. Each statement is a step forward. Small consistent steps are the key to accomplishing big dreams!

Relevant: Intention statements should move you forward in a way that holds meaning to you. Make sure your Intentions are specific enough to keep you focused yet cool enough to inspire action. Great intention statements support your vision and build on one another. Relevance is focus combined with synergy.

Time bound: Each Intention should be completed in an established time frame. When will you accomplish your Intention? Set a date and establish a time line. Use time as an effective tool to build in accountability and to monitor progress.

Evolved: Your SMARTER Intentions must be designed to fulfill your life vision. Revisit them often (daily, weekly and monthly) to make sure they are still working for you. How do you feel when you reach a goal? If it feels right, you are on target. If something feels off, it may be time to make adjustments. These are your intentions, so be true to yourself and make them work for you! Performance based on passion equals success!

Rewarded: This is the best part of a SMARTER Intention! Celebrations help us realize our progress while building momentum and motivation. How will you celebrate achieving your Intention? Be creative and have fun with this one. Recognize your accomplishments and share your wins with others. Go wild with confidence and celebrate each success!

It’s Time for a Little Practice!

Find a quiet spot where you can still your mind and center your thoughts. If this is new to you, a quick and effective way to center yourself is: 1) close your eyes in a quite place, 2) take 3-4 full, deep breaths (a great way to take full deep breaths is by taking air in through the nose and releasing it out through the mouth making a constant “S” sound) and 3) slowly opening your eyes. Invest some focused time in honestly creating SMARTER Intention Statements that serve as a map on your journey to achieving your personal vision. Your SMARTER Intentions should be Super Cool, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time Bound, Evolved, and Rewarded.

Coaching Tip: Get Creative & Have Fun!


Pictures truly have the power to speak a thousand words. Use images, pictures, stickers, colors and whatever other images or visuals that move you. Using both words and images stimulates your whole brain and is an extremely powerful way to establish SMARTER Intention Statements. Your smarter Intentions may end up being a collage of images with a few words. Be creative and have fun!

The table below is a coaching tool designed to get you started. Remember, what we truly intend will happen. Have some fun with this exercise. Also, make sure you are true to yourself and find fulfillment and meaning in each statement. Write as many SMARTER Intentions as you need. The table below is only a guide with an example of one of my SMARTER Intention Statements for 2021.

SMARTER Intention StatementDue DateReward
1I will create 52 posts based on the most common and profound client questions and challenges in 2021December 31, 2021Social media themed party with my family!
2
3
4
5
SMARTER Intentions Coaching Guide and Example

Final Coaching Tips on Setting SMARTER Intentions

Remember, this life is your journey. If you need to make changes to your SMARTER Intention Statements, do it. If something doesn’t feel right, fix it. Intentions should be set for you as an individual and based on personal fulfillment, not simply on what you think you should do based on the thoughts and influences of others or society. Your intentions serve as motivation and the source of actions and behaviors. Be brutally honest with yourself when setting SMARTER Intentions. Truly meaningful intentions are powerful and have the potential to grow your Inner Leader and your life.

What you truly intend will happen; therefore, your SMARTER Intentions must be based on your personal truth. Intentions become goals; therefore, honest intentions inspire authentic goals. The more genuine you are about experiencing your SMARTER Intentions, the more likely you are to stick to them. Setting and pursuing false intentions can lead to a lack of interest and motivation, which typically ends in goal abandonment and ultimately in feelings of failure and self-doubt. Feelings of failure and self-doubt can seriously erode confidence and our sense of self-empowerment and success.

My Final Coaching Tips: Set holistic SMARTER Intentions that recognize the importance of the mind-body-spirit connection for different areas of your life, including the areas of self-care, family and relationships, spiritual growth, finances and personal development. Different areas of life ebb and flow together like an ecosystem. Each area of life needs attention. Life should be cultivated and cared for like a plant or flower if it is truly to be enjoyed.

Keep your SMARTER Intentions in front of you; refer to them many times per day until they become part of your subconscious mind. Take inspired actions daily, change course when needed and enjoy the journey!

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How do you set goals?

A client asked me how to set goals for 2021 – this was a great question, and we enjoyed exploring it during our coaching session. I suggest to clients that they begin by letting their creative juices flow through the process of drawing their vision.

We create our future in the present moment, so our thoughts, actions, and activities benefit by having a guide.  The best way to establish this guide?  Create a Visual Vision.

Start by Drawing Your Vision

Grab yourself a big piece of paper  — I like to use poster board or flip charts — and some markers, crayons, oil pastels, paints or whatever medium you prefer and begin to let your imagination wander.  This should be an enjoyable process, so I highly recommend savoring a hot cup of tea or favorite beverage of any kind while creating your vision of the future.  When you have everything you need, including quiet, focused time, begin drawing your vision for the future.  

Vision 2021

Most of my clients are challenged by seeing beyond 2021, so start there! What is your vision for this year?

Draw a picture of your vision – who do you want to be this year?  Where do you want to be at the beginning of 2022?  And, what do you want to have experienced and accomplished along the way? 

Let go and have some fun with this process!  Refine it until it feels good to you and truly represents your vision for 2021. Keep your visual vision in front of you and use it to guide 2021.  I also suggest looking at it daily – put it somewhere you are going to see it several times per day without having to manually get it out of a book or drawer. These repetitive visuals will help guide your subconscious mind.

Coaching Tip: You can use whatever timeframe that works for you. One year goes by quickly, and we want to give ourselves enough time to accomplish or reach our vision. So stretch yourself but also ground your vision by thinking what is real for you by 2022.

#YOU

I also suggest creating a unique hashtag or bumper sticker phrase to anchor your mind to the vision every time you set a goal or need to make a decision.  A great vision guides intentional and authentic goal setting and decision making by anchoring your mind, serving as a guide, simplifying the processes and becoming your compass for 2021!  Try it out and let me know how it goes!!

Coaching Tip:  You can use this process as an individual, with your family, with your friends and with teams at work.  Enjoy!

-Dr. Connie

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Rural Health Leadership Radio: The Importance of a Purposeful Future

I am so excited!!!

Dr. Bill Auxier, host of the Rural Health Leadership Radio podcast, invited me to be the last guest of 2020 on his very successful and informative show. We talk about factors influencing the future of healthcare, including the longevity economy and Purposeful Future. So, what exactly is a Purposeful Future?

Purposeful Future: The desired future we choose to pursue with conscious intent because it is both significant and meaningful.

What’s Next? The Importance of a Purposeful Future in 2021

One of the questions I continue to get almost daily is: What is next? My answer: Take some time to develop a Purposeful Future for yourself and/or your company. COVID has been a monumental wildcard. It has changed the trajectory of the future, so now is the perfect time to create the future you truly desire. We have seen the importance of living, working and earning with purpose in meaning in 2020 – and this megatrend will not slow down anytime soon.

Please take some time to listen to this episode of the Rural Health Leadership Radio podcast to learn more! And, contact me if you are ready to create and pursue your Purposeful Future!

Rural Health Leadership Radio with Dr. Bill Auxier

In this final episode of 2020, we are honored to have Dr. Connie Reimers-Hild as a guest. Dr. Connie shares her perspective on several timely leadership topics: the impact of history on the future, purposeful futures, systems thinking, and leadership of the future.

“My research on leaders repeatedly revealed one major finding; people are motivated by personal fulfillment and purpose.”

— Dr. Connie

Dr. Connie Reimers-Hild, Wild Innovation’s Founder and Chief Futurist, is on a mission to help leaders and organizations intentionally create a more prosperous future in the exploding longevity economy, which is expected to be valued at $28.2 trillion by 2050.

Prior to launching Wild Innovation as a full-time venture, Dr. Connie worked at the University of Nebraska for twenty-five years. In her last position at the University, she served as the Executive Director (Interim) and Chief Futurist for the Rural Futures Institute at the University of Nebraska where she published an invited journal article, strategic foresight, leadership, and the future of rural healthcare staffing in the United States https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5916469/, which was the first of its kind published in the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (JAAPA).

Dr. Connie is a Certified Futurist, Professional Coach, and Gallup Strengths Coach with a doctorate in Human Sciences and Leadership Studies.  She loves firewalking, snow sledding, swimming with sharks, and spending time with her family.

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No Surprise: The Official Launch of Amazon Pharmacy

It’s official! Amazon Pharmacy has launched, and it is already available in places like Nebraska! Amazon makes it easy, and filling your prescriptions will be more seamless than ever as they continue to use their insights, resources and business philosophies to serve consumers in ways we don’t even know we want – yet.

I began talking and writing about the evolution of healthcare several years ago. My obsession with how Amazon does business, while shaping the future, has been the subject of many keynotes and publications.

It was an honor to talk about the future of healthcare at the annual meeting of the Western Healthcare Alliance (WHA) in a 2019, which included both a keynote and post-keynote coaching circles. The final part of this conference engagement included executive coaching sessions and interviews with 20 leaders. We talked a lot about the changes happening in healthcare at that time. I learned a lot from those leaders, and they were already challenged by the changes and growing number of competitors.

Disrupting Healthcare

The signs indicating that Amazon was building its capacity to disrupt healthcare have been evident for quite sometime. One of the slides from my WHA keynote demonstrated some of the moves Amazon was making to achieve their goals in this space, and the acquisition of Whole Foods and PillPack were two of those strategic investments. Both of those moves were in addition to the already established mammoth market share of Prime memberships (pre-COVID) as well as the smart speaker market.

Keynote slide presented as part the 2019 Western Healthcare Alliance Annual Summit

Jeff Bezos is the ultimate think like a futurist and act like an entrepreneur leader. I would love the opportunity to tap into his business mind because he was shaping the future from the very beginning. It may be a challenge to get him to sit down for an interview because estimates have him making more than $220,000 per minute.

Companies can learn a lot from the four principles Amazon has lived – and grown by – since day one, and I have used their principles to help other leaders think about ways they can lead like a Futurist while acting like an entrepreneur:

The connected world is not going away any time soon, and the implications with the growing longevity economy are staggering! As you can all imagine, my keynotes and workshops have been delivered as webinars for the past few months, and one of the areas I am really diving into is the longevity economy. According to the AARP, the longevity economy is expected to balloon to over $28.2 trillion by 2050. My Futurist mind can’t wrap its head around how many more prescriptions will be filled in that time – in the U.S. alone!

The Longevity Economy Outlook: https://longevityeconomy.aarp.org/

What about the Costs to Humanity and the Environment?

While Amazon is doing great, the actual Amazon is not. Workers’ rights and climate change continue to be a major concern. CNBC stated that Amazon delivered 425 million packages between April and June of 2020. And, that is just Amazon. How many packages, boxes and envelopes are delivered around the world each day? Each delivery requires the use of natural resources, fossil fuels and people.

The AP conducted a comprehensive study of the palm oil industry, and not surprisingly – rape, abuse, healthcare challenges and lack of financial security are rampant. Agricultural workers, especially women, have been exploited for a long, long time. I first learned about these abuses while studying natural resources and entomology at both the undergraduate and graduate levels – and that was in the 1990’s. The pesticide poisoning and abuse inflicted on agricultural workers in rural areas is very real. This type of abuse is part of the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics supply chain many of us take for granted every day. The people who grow, harvest and make the products and pharmaceuticals shipped and used around the world are suffering – and so are their families. The women who work in these situations have no choice, no voice and no hope. We must do more for the rights of workers – especially women – who are exploited and attacked while trying to make a living. True prosperity does not exist if wealth and power for a few come at the expense of so many.

A New Economy: Prosperity for All

We can and must to better – I am not sure what it all looks like or exactly how we get there; however, there has to be an economic system that moves towards a more purposeful and prosperous future for all.

What do you think? How can we create a new economic system that benefits more people as well as the planet?

I would love to hear your thoughts…

-Dr. Connie

Female workers in the agricultural industry need more pay, rights and protection.
Read the full article: https://apnews.com/article/palm-oil-abuse-investigation-cosmetics-2a209d60c42bf0e8fcc6f8ea6daa11c7

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Thank You Vets!

Did you know that more than 13 million veterans are 55 or older? The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) published a report on aging vets in 2016 discussing the aging veteran population with a focus on housing, social and economic characteristics and related issues.

The number of aging veterans, along the the greying of the overall US population, is changing the way we approach business and life. These changes are occurring an increasingly rapid pace due to wildcards like COVID and advances in science and technology.

The focus of this post is to give gratitude to our veterans and their families. They have and continue to shape the past, present and future with their service and sacrifice. Thank you to all who have served!

The Future of Aging

The future of aging conversation is an important one for vets and for the world in general. I am getting really close to the BIG 50 myself and am wondering how you all feel about what you see and experience as you age? How do you see your future and that of society for people who are getting older?? We know that Gen X, and younger generations, are aging very differently compared to older generations. Any and all thoughts on getting older are welcome!

With Love, Gratitude and a Salute to our Vets,

-Dr. Connie

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Happy Halloween!

I LOVE Halloween!!! It is one of my favorite times of the year, and this year it is on Saturday – extra bonus!!! I am making my costume this year and still have to put on the finishing touches.

As you can guess, I am a big fan of adults dressing up for Halloween. Sometimes, we feel like we are too old to really enjoy holidays. We make excuses in our heads like, “it’s for the kids.” This is absolutely not true!! Halloween is a holiday people of all ages can enjoy.

2020 has been a very challenging and stressful year for most people, and fun relieves stress while helping us connect with ourselves and our families. Halloween may look different this year, but it can still be fun. Let us know how you plan to celebrate and share pix of your costumes 🙂

It’s time to have some fun again, so here’s to a fun and safe adventure this Halloween! Remember, being an adult does not have to be boring!

Below are the pumpkins we carved this year…one of my favorite family traditions! Let us know how you celebrated this one-of-a-kind Halloween!

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Leading Innovative Teams: Creating Collaboration in Times of Change and Challenge

Mental health and overall well-being are essential to thriving families, businesses, communities and organizations. It has been both an honor and a pleasure to research, explore and learn more about the incredible field of mental health with administrators and faculty leading the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Leadership Institute. This two-year journey provided me with new tools and techniques, which I now use in my practice. I also shared new ideas and exercises, which they use in their work. Best of all? This wonderful gift provided me with new perspectives related to the intersections between mental health, leadership development, mindfulness and coaching. The learner in me was so jazzed when discovering these connections. Bonus! This partnership also provided me with access to cutting edge research and applications that I now use to support my clients!

Leading Innovation in 2020 and Beyond

One of the areas our team has been focused on is leading innovation. The monumental wildcard of COVID has forced universities, as well as every other sector of business, to change. This requires both bold leadership and the capacity to collaborate in innovative ways that can help us create a purposeful future that may be totally different than where we were heading before 2020.

If you are part of the University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) network, please join us for this leadership development webinar designed to support and promote collaboration and innovation. You can register by going to: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0rdO-pqjIvGdH5OZJAT6vuKiI9mSAefMaB

If you would like more information on how lead innovation and create collaboration in the era of constant change and challenge we are experiencing right now, then contact Wild Innovation for additional resources. We are here to help create a more prosperous future for everyone!

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Have you registered for our next webinar? It's coming up next week on October 22nd! "Leading Innovative Teams: Creating Collaboration in Times of Change and Challenge" Presenters: Dr. Connie Reimers-Hild & Dr. Ty B. Aller When: October 22, 2020, at 2 pm EST Cost: FREE! Register on our website (link in bio). This webinar is the last episode of a 5-part webinar series emphasizing developing leaders to help promote the mental health aspects of individuals with developmental disabilities in the UCEDD network. To learn more about this series and our presenters visit our website (link in bio). #disability #disabilityawareness #peoplewithdisabilities #pwd #accessibility #inclusion #acceptance #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthcare #webinar #MHDDwebinar #mhddlead

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Support Janet Palmtag – Female Maverick & Friend

I am an Independent for a number of reasons and usually don’t support candidates because I truly don’t know them that well.

Here in Nebraska, there is a candidate I do support. Her name is Janet Palmtag, and she is an entrepreneur, inventor and true leader. Janet is a total maverick who bought a house and a plane – without permission from anyone! She has also always graciously helped me whenever I needed support.

Now, she is once putting her business acumen and leadership skills to work in the political arena, and I am completely jazzed about her being in office! She has always been a great example of setting your mind to something and then doing it.

I have known Janet for a long time, and she has always been a champion for people, small businesses, and positive progress. Janet helped support our entrepreneurship club when I worked in Nebraska City, took the time to meet with students when I was with the Rural Futures Institute and has always been there to provide support, guidance and advice. She not only understands the challenges in rural communities-she turns them into opportunities!

Janet Palmtag is one of the strongest and most honest leaders I know.

Our team interviewed Janet for the Rural Futures Podcast. You can listen to episode 30 with Janet by clicking on the link below:

I would vote for Janet if I lived in District 1. Learn more about Janet Palmtag for Legislature on Facebook or by visiting her website: https://palmtagfornebraska.com/

Janet Palmtag for Legislature!

Go Wild & Vote!

-Dr. Connie