Intentional Actions

Your life can turn out the way you want it to but only if you control your actions, watch your behaviors, and refuse to just drift along. Living with intention means taking deliberate steps toward reaching your desired goal and doing what needs to be done to begin living your dream life. Intentional actions give you control over your life and prevent you from living aimlessly or going wherever life takes you. 

 

For example, if your goal is to sing with your favorite orchestra, you take charge, enroll for music lessons, commit to your vocal training and take your lectures seriously instead of relying on fate to get you there. You do what needs to be done and act intentionally.

Taking deliberate actions is the only thing that can turn your life around and lead you to your destiny. There is a reason why academics are disciplined enough to graduate in their studies and keep advancing in their fields of expertise. They wake up each morning, study, go for lectures, work on assignments, complete projects, go to the library, and do everything required for them to graduate because they know that it is the only way of obtaining that Degree or Ph.D. they are aiming for. They continue with that routine for years and are disciplined enough to keep going because they recognize the power of living with intention in achieving your goals. 

 

Living intentionally means recognizing that turning your dreams into reality has nothing to do with your emotions or moods and so, you do what needs to be done even when you don’t feel like it. It means you plan your day right and say yes to taking the required actions toward your goal daily without cringing. 

 

Best Ways Of Ensuring You Take Intentional Actions Every Day

 

Keep your goal constantly in sight.

 

You can begin reaching your goals by taking intentional actions daily which is something that can only be achieved by keeping your goal in sight and reminding yourself of what you intend to accomplish in the long run. So, when you are confused about which route to take, start thinking “Is this step going to help me in my pursuit of ABC?” If yes, go ahead with it. If not, let it go and find something that will get you a step closer to your aim.

 

Plan your steps.

 

Drifting along, waiting to see how things will turn out, and waiting on life to take you wherever it sees fit is an example of a wasteful life. Therefore, have the upper hand and influence how your life turns out. The choice of living an intentional life that is governed by intentional actions is a smart choice that is crucial to your success because an intentional life gives you more control over your life and reminds you that you have what it takes to achieve your goals. 

 

Intentional actions include planning and analyzing every step you take. It means deciding whether or not what you are about to do is going to take you a step closer to your goal or further away from it. 

 

Form relations with the right people. 

 

Initiating contact with the right people, seeking advice from them, as well as forming relations with people who have already accomplished what you desire is a smart way of living with intention. Look for individuals who have already walked the road you are traveling and have succeeded. Learn from them, find out how they got to where they are, ask the right questions, and implement what works for you. 

 

Forming good relations with people you admire helps you make smart decisions particularly when you don’t know which route to take and assists you in moving forward.

Stay focused. 

The best way of taking intentional actions daily is by eliminating distractions and remaining focused on your tasks. You know your long-term goal, you have a solid plan in place, you have outlined all the necessary steps to take, and you have broken down those steps into daily to-dos that will have a huge impact on your end-goal. Distractions are the only thing stopping you from fulfilling your dream. That’s why minimizing interruptions or getting rid of them matters. 

Focus on getting things done and meeting your daily, weekly, as well as monthly goals. Learn to say NO to things that have the potential of hindering your progress and never allow good opportunities pass you by. 

 

Intentional actions may not always get you what you want and don’t ensure you get to do things your way but they certainly move you from where you are and get you steps closer to accomplishing your goal. So, be patient with yourself, expect to travel unexpected roads but realize that those roads will lead you to your destiny. 

 

Live A Life That Is In Alignment With Your Values

Values are principles or standards of behavior. They determine what is of interest to us, our attitudes, preferences, needs, opinions, and personalities. They help us make decisions that are right for us and choose what to prioritize. Living a life of value is becoming increasingly difficult in a world where most people are chasing after popularity, protecting their spaces, and 'freedom'. The things we do and say sometimes are unbelievable such that you wonder how people manage to sleep at night knowing how they treat others or portray themselves in our social spaces. If it gives them satisfaction and peace, good for them. It is refreshing, however, to know that some people still have values.

 

Living a life that is in alignment with your values simply means that in our daily lives we marry our plans or activities with our values. We are not to adjust our values based on what we want to do at a particular point in time. Rather, our daily life should fit into the requirements of our values. Values must only be changed if the adjustments are an improvement. This is why you should live a life that is in alignment with your values;

 

1.  Values pave a clear path for us to fulfill our purpose – as mentioned previously, values are principles or standards of behavior. Boundaries and limits are set to ensure that we do not get derailed. Therefore, values help us determine what we can or cannot do as we walk our life journey and try to maintain who we need to be as per our purpose. As we remain on this path, we are guaranteed that we will live out who we should be regardless of what we face along the way. In other words, aligning our daily activities with our values puts us in a better position to or improves our chances of achieving our goals.

 

2.  It helps us to determine what is important to us – this keeps us focused on things that matter and Guide decision making. For example, our values will determine what things to pay attention to from the conversations we engage in with friends. As a result, anything else that is against personal goals is not given room to influence us. This further determines the way we respond as we interact with others. The importance of what we do, see or hear should be dependent on how it draws us closer to what we want to be. Our choice of what jobs, family, and hobbies to have among other things, must be based on our values. 

 

3.  It helps us build better and functional relationships – having clear values and living according to them helps people understand us better and vice-versa. As we align our life with our values, we come to an understanding that we are who we are by choice and that others have the freedom to make their own choices and be who they want to be. Consequently, we appreciate diversity better because we understand that we are all running different races and will not finish at the same time. This minimizes misunderstandings and unrealistic expectations. Also, our intentions as we interact with others are guided by our principles which also compels us to know where to draw the line as far as discussions are concerned. This keeps us from saying things we shouldn’t say and from doing things we shouldn’t do.

 

4.  Staying true to ourselves and experiencing genuine happiness – when we do things that are aligned with who we really are, we are not under pressure to please others. We do not feel the need to try and fit in or make sacrifices for the sake of social status. We know what we are doing and why which gives us feelings of contentment. Living according to our values also keeps us from doing things that are likely to be regretted in the future. We find life more fulling when we know that all we are and all we have was acquired without the need to do anything that is out of character. We do not feel like we owe any human being for it and we do not live in fear of the possibility of any of our deals coming back to haunt us. 

 

5.  It helps us grow – we mentioned previously that our values set a clear path for us as we try to fulfill our purpose. This keeps us from taking any other route. This means that we face all the challenges that come our way without running away from any of them. As we do this, we gain more experience in dealing with challenges and take lessons that improve the way we do things, our planning included. Those who have faced challenges and did not look for an easy way out know that we come out of trying times wiser and stronger.

“If you don’t stick to your values when they are being tested, they’re not values, they’re hobbies.” Job Stewart

Make Choices Based On Clarity And Intention

In the popular film ‘Three idiots’, the lead actor Rancho who is an excellent engineering student is seen telling one of his friends, “You are an idiot, you love photography and yet here you are marrying engineering” he further explained that it was the reason why his friend wasn’t performing well in his studies. His heart was obviously into taking pictures of wild animals but his parents had pushed him into studying something different because they liked the prestige that came with having an engineer for a son. For each one of us, choices are presented every moment for the small as well as the grand things in our lives. 

 

As soon as you first open your eyes in the morning the choices are presented to you in their numbers. To wake up immediately or to laze around in your bed for a while, to head straight into the shower or to go for a jog or to give yourself a ‘much-needed break’. To declare the day slow and boring or to inject positive energy into it. The choices go on into the day, every moment is full of them. When to eat, what to eat and how to prepare it, these are all the alternatives you get as you go on with the day. To give thought to your looks or not to, to make an effort towards building good relationships by calling or visiting your folks. At the end of the day, you are the product of all these small options you took seriously or allowed yourself to lazily and unconsciously take. 

 

Knowing, therefore, that for as long as you live you will always be faced with the need to make selections, what is it that you ought to consider so that you may become better at it? 

1. Clarity about yourself 

I cannot stress this enough, “Man, know thyself”. Your character, your strength, and weakness should guide the choices you make so get busy finding them out and trying and testing them. All your life you may have been told that you are bad at something when in fact that is your best talent only needing some polishing. Stereotypes may have saturated your head until you ceased to bother trying out certain things. Take time to test them out, try everything your time allows you to so that at the end of the day you know yourself more than anyone else does. You will work extra hard if as an easily distracted person you choose to work from home in the same way that one who values family time may want to consider a job that grounds and keeps them closer to home. Are you an excessively smart person who loves nothing more than order in your environment? You may need to consider having a smaller family or investing in an effective organizing team or system. Award yourself the happiness you deserve by studying yourself and making decisions based on what works for you.

2. Your ultimate intentions

 

In the same college accounting class, there may be a student who wants to become the best accountant in town and get hired by the best firm while there is another who wants to fully grasp the accounting systems so that he starts a large accounting firm himself. These two will not study the same thing during their free time. The former ought to develop the qualities necessary for job security which include hard work, consistency, and constant skill development while the latter needs to add leadership skills among other things. Once you discover your life’s purpose, it is easier to make the little choices you are faced with throughout the day. You have a compass pointing in the direction you want to go therefore anything that feeds into it, you make time for while cutting everything else out.

3. Your intentions for those who follow you

You want your children to try different kinds of sports and find out what they are good at? Take them to a school that celebrates sport and has organized schedules for them. As a leader of a team, decide if you want them to have maximum focus and then design their workspace for such. Do you want a happy team that doesn’t need to worry about what to have for lunch? Put in place a good café, dining room, or catering services for them. If the goal is to have loyal employees, you must make them feel loved and appreciated in special ways so you may need to find out what makes them tick. Know their birthdays and other special events in their lives and celebrate with them.

 

Before purchasing a car, the average person wants to know the qualities of the particular model they want so that they make an informed decision. The same applies to the process of buying a house or any other big investment. If you applied the same principle to whatever thing you needed to acquire in your life you would save yourself from making grave mistakes.

 

Moving From Where You Are To Where You Need To Be

Almost everyone dreams of a better life or version of ourselves. We can see ourselves in houses we see in magazines and the television, we see ourselves having happy families, businesses, or good jobs. But, unfortunately for some people, these things will just remain what they are; dreams. Not all of us get to make our dreams come true even though we all have to potential and ability to. Why is that? It is because dreaming is easy. The challenge is with making the dreams a reality.

 

Moving from dreaming to living the dream requires so much from us. Sometimes we overthink it though. The world seems to believe that success only comes when we suffer and spend sleepless nights. Many success stories have that part. However, sometimes all we need to do is plan well, work smart, get enough rest, and stay healthy. We can follow these everyday steps to move from where we are to where we need to be: 

 

1.  Prioritize your mental health – you can have all the good plans in place but if you have mental health issues, your journey from where you are to where you need to be will be more than just a struggle. It is, therefore, necessary for you to wake up and remind yourself that you have and are all it takes to get where you need to be. This will require you to keep away from negative people or anything that makes you doubt your capabilities. 

 

2.  Be grateful for what you already have – gratitude is one way to keep us in a good mood and get motivation. Counting your blessings gives you the hope that you do stand a chance to get the things that you still dream of. Gratitude also shifts our focus from negative things which helps clear our minds and enables us to see things from a different point of view. 

 

3.  Remind yourself why you chose the path that you are walking – sometimes all you need to do to get yourself motivated is to remind yourself why you chose to be the person you are or want to be. Where you were starting to feel like giving up everything, this helps you find yourself back to your feet again. The thought of what you lose by allowing yourself to give up and be something else will not give you peace. You are then left with no choice but to soldier on.

 

4.  Revisit your set of principles and boundaries when you need to make a decision – when we keep our principles and boundaries in mind as we make decisions, we remind ourselves why other choices may never work for us.

 

5.  Do what you have to do – strategies do not implement themselves. Get up and work. Laziness is what fails most people. Good people with good plans included. Make it a point that you fight the spirit of laziness with all you have else your goals will be nothing but dreams.

 

6.  Get enough rest – one of the mistakes that we make is overworking. Learn the difference between working hard and overworking yourself. Yes, you can make more money and gain more experience when you overwork but you need to listen when your body starts screaming for help. Exhaustion can affect us mentally and physically. We might end up having to pay hospital bills with the hard-earned money instead of just enjoying it and investing in who we want to be. When we are well-rested we also function better. 

 

7.  Do not envy – there is so much that we see around us which appears like ‘good life’. Well, we will not bother to talk about whether it is real or not. The point is, real or not, it is not your race. Protect yourself from unnecessary heartache and feeling like a failure by staying in your lane.

 

8.  Trust the process and be easy on yourself – we do get moments where we feel as if our dreams are taking too long and we start doubting if they will ever come true. Be patient and remind yourself that you haven't failed yet. Life is not just about that one dream. We will always have things to work on. This includes character development and gaining work experience among other things. Find something to keep yourself occupied and growing as you wait for the 'bigger' part of your dream to start moving.

 

9.  Build or strengthen your connections – be it socially or in the workplace, we need people we can rely on when things are tough or we are discouraged. Make it a point to build and maintain good relationships who understand and believe in your dreams so that you can get the help you need when things get hard. Remember to not step on people on your way up. You might need them on your way down.

 

Self-Discovery: Figure Out Who You Are

One of my favorite professors back in university taught us an easy concept to learning something new, which became a life lesson to me. He described this as an important way to gather up all the important facts based on research work or learning in general. He said, “Whenever you came about a new lesson or concept to learn, make it your aim to be able to answer seven key questions concerning that topic”. It’s called the 5W2H principle. The key questions to ask are Who, What, Where, When, Why, How, and/or How much? I’ve put this simple principle in my day-to-day routines and whenever I come across some decision making, and this has helped me tremendously. In my journey in self-discovery, asking myself these key questions also helped me understand myself even better. Before we get to finding a purpose to live and living it intentionally, we should be able to give ourselves an identity first. Knowing who we are is a journey that requires a deep inlook into one’s life. Self-searching, self-questioning, and self-reflecting on our personalities, emotions, and lifestyle.

 

Who am I?

 

This journey of self-discovery begins by asking yourself this question. Who am I? Your name is your title but that is not your true identity. Your true identification lies in what you believe in and who you choose to become. The world we live in now has blurred the lines to self-identity and now encourages people to identify themselves however they wish to. Your identity is a choice that you make for yourself. People around you and your background may try and label you but what truly matters is who you choose to identify yourself as. A hundred people calling you poor when you have a million dollars hidden in your account does not make you a poor man. Waking up each day calling yourself a poor man and choosing to be lazy and not be productive will make you a poor man. That identity will stick to you because you accepted it and made it who you are. 

 

What defines me?

 

What is important to you? What are your values and needs? What thoughts and feelings do you stand by and are worth protecting? What you believe and fight for is who you are. Acknowledging your interests, your dreams, and ambitions is another crucial step in your journey to self-discovery. Our lives are driven by having a purpose. You cannot have direction in your life if you do not know what exactly you’re aiming for. Self-knowledge and self-appraisal are what pre-selects the values that make you who you are. Discover hobbies and traditions that stand out to you. The only way to know what gives you personal satisfaction and makes you happy is to try out new activities. You really never know what you like till you’ve tried it.

 

Where am I positioned in life?

 

Where you position yourself, the people you allow into your personal space, your colleagues and friends, and the places you choose to hang out in all influence who you are or who you’ll become. One bad apple spoils the whole bunch they say. The bad apple, the influencer, is someone who has made a distinctive identity of himself or herself. Even a dog raised by a pack of wolves does not make it become a wolf. Nobody can wrongly influence you if you stay true to your true self. Who you are and what’s important to you. Surround yourself with people that nurture the person you want to become. People that build your ambitions and goals and those that promote your intended lifestyle. 

 

When do I get to where I’m going?

 

Every goal, ambition or dream needs a time factor set to accomplish it. Where do you see yourself spiritually, intellectually, or financially being a week, month, or years from now? That big picture, when you’ve finally achieved those big goals, begins with making small intentional decisions. Making small purposeful acts one after the other, one day at a time. Once you’ve discovered where you want to be in your life, you set a time frame when you want to see yourself there. Knowing yourself, and staying true to yourself helps you in making attainable goals. When the goals are too demanding and time-consuming you might lose yourself to frustrations, anxiety, and depression. 

 

One of the important lessons I was taught growing up is how to celebrate the small progressions I make in my life. Firstly, I learned to separate my short term from my long-term goals. As I was achieving my short-term goals it gave me a drive and encouragement to keep pursuing all the other goals I had set for myself. It reminded me that I was perfectly capable of attaining what I was setting my mind on. I wasn’t focusing on the negative energies, what I was missing, or why it was taking long. I focused on what went right and how to make my next step forward. My journey continues, and this lesson proves to have made me a better version of myself.

 

Why am I alive today?

 

Why do you wake up every day and do what you do? Why do you push yourself to go to the gym every other day and eat healthily? Why do you keep disciplining yourself to stay on budget? How much are you willing to give to obtain your inner peace and happiness, and to experience the wholeness of who you are? The reason lies in understanding your life’s purpose. Those central motivating aims of your life guide your life decisions, influences your behavior, shapes your goals, and offer a wide sense of direction thus creating meaning to your life. What defines who you are is what you live for, your soulful purpose to life.

 

Understand The Significance Of Intentional Living In Achieving Your Goals

Intentional living enables you to achieve your goals by ensuring every choice you make and every step you take is in line with your end goal. Understanding the significance of intentional actions as well as intentional choices in accomplishing anything worthwhile and in improving your overall life will motivate you to continue working on your goals. It will strengthen your faith in your abilities, build your self-confidence, help you progress, and cause you to see that any goal you set is attainable.

 

5 Ways Intentional Living Helps You Achieve Your Goals.

 

1. Intentional living teaches you to take deliberate action. 

 

Intentional people recognize that the key to achieving any goal is taking deliberate action, having deliberate thoughts, making deliberate choices, as well as being deliberate when setting your goals. For instance, if you want to lose 80 pounds this year, you set daily, weekly, as well as monthly goals that will guide you in that direction and get you where you need to be. You break down 80 pounds into daily or weekly manageable targets. For example, aim to lose 5 or 10 pounds a week. 

 

Take deliberate action by taking the stairs, going to the gym, picking up an exercising routine, cutting off fatty foods from your diet, substituting fizzy drinks with plenty of water, avoiding fast-foods, and taking packed lunch to work. Deliberate goals encourage deliberate action, guide you in the right direction, and enable you to get what you desire. 

 

2. It strengthens your belief system. 

 

Living intentionally encourages you to stand by your values or beliefs and increases your faith in what you believe in. It reminds you that your life is your own, it’s important, and you don’t have to compare it to anyone else’s. Living with intention means you are not controlled by your environment or circumstances. You live by what’s inside you and your life is directed by what you believe in which empowers you to reach for your dreams.

 

3. It keeps your eyes on the bigger picture. 

 

“Which areas need improvement?” “Where can I improve?” are intentional questions you need to ask yourself time and again but most importantly after a failure. That is because they remind you that reaching your aims requires constant growth and improvement and that failing today doesn’t mean you have reached the end of your journey. 

 

The best way of accomplishing each goal you set is by keeping your eyes on the bigger picture and you can only do that by learning to live with intention. Let “Where am I going?” and “What do I intend to accomplish?” guide you whenever you fall. 

 

4. Intentional living emphasizes on your capabilities.

 

Knowing your skillset or what you are good at keeps your mind from straying or going with what seems “attractive” at the moment. It helps you realize your purpose, your worth, what you are meant to be, and focuses your attention on what you can do to begin reaching your goals. Living with intention makes you realize that you have what it takes to get what you are aiming for because each step you take is an intentional one.

 

5. It helps you make smart decisions that will benefit you in the long run.

 

“Will this help me to get a step closer to or further away from my goal?” is the most important question you need to ask yourself each time you are about to make a decision. This is because there are some choices you make, some steps you take, and certain things you commit to that can delay your journey to success or hurt your goal. So, let that question guide you when deciding on what to do next. 

 

Intentional people ask intentional questions which are the key to making smart and informed decisions. So, train your mind to constantly come up with deliberate questions that play a significant role in making intelligent decisions and in moving forward. If taking that next step aligns with your goal, don’t hesitate to take it. If it has nothing to do with what you are aiming for, don’t take the step because it will only delay your progress.

 

Being intentional in all things keeps you ahead of everything else. It gives you the strength to keep working, continue trying, keep believing, and never allow anything to stop you from going after what you want. This is because an intentional life is a life that is focused on what you believe in, who you see yourself becoming, what you are meant to achieve, who you are meant to be, as well as where you are going, not where you currently are. 

 

So, be deliberate when setting goals because being deliberate is important for the attainment of your goals.

6 Reasons Why You Need A WHY Statement

Most people do not know what their true calling in life is. Some people just don’t care about this and are happy to be a drifter in life and just “go with the flow”. Others do care about it but have problems with identifying their real purpose in life. So here will show you 6 reasons why you absolutely must create a WHY statement.

 

1. It will provide clarity about what your purpose in life is.

 

If you don’t know your true life’s purpose then you will end up doing things that you really don’t want to do. There are so many people working jobs that they hate just to pay the bills. They dread Monday mornings and always feel apprehensive on Sunday nights. This is no way to live your life.

 

When you know what your true purpose is in life you can take action to achieve this. You will have more confidence and can get a job that will align with your purpose. You will have more energy and be motivated every day.

 

2. A WHY Statement Sharpens your Focus

 

Without the right focus in your life, it is easy to set goals that you are not truly committed to. A lot of people follow their friends and other influencers in their life and end up setting the same goals as them. We are all different and this rarely works out well.

 

When you identify what you really want your life to be about this clarity helps you to work out your next moves a lot more easily. You can use your WHY statement to drive you forward each day and achieve what you really want from your life.

 

3. You will make the Right Decisions

 

Have you ever made wrong decisions in your life? Of course, you have we have all done that. When you have a strong and compelling WHY statement it will help you to make much better decisions in life.

 

A lot of decisions have serious consequences and if you don’t know your true purpose then you can dismiss these consequences in exchange for short term pleasure or gain. With a good WHY statement you will assess the long-term consequences and be able to make better decisions.

 

4. It Provides more Accountability

 

People that have no purpose in life tend to shy away from accountability. They are just happy to drift along but then complain bitterly when things go against them. It is never their fault of course and always someone else’s.

 

With a powerful WHY statement you will know where you are going in life and be accountable for this. You will think things through more and only take action where it aligns with your WHY statement. This additional accountability will make you a better person.

 

5. You will be Healthier and Happier

 

If you only want to consider one of these reasons to have a compelling WHY statement then this is the one to choose. There is nothing more important than your health and your happiness. When you are happy then you tend to be healthier. If you are unhappy then your resistance is down and you can experience all kinds of health issues.

 

6. Your Resilience will Increase

 

Everyone has to face problems in their life. For some people these problems are too difficult to handle and they become overwhelmed and stressed out. When you have a compelling WHY statement you can see these problems as opportunities for you to grow and attain fulfillment in your life.

 

Communicating Your WHY Statement To Others

When you make a commitment to create a truly powerful WHY statement, it is a good idea to share it with other people in your social circle. You can share your new personal WHY statement with your family members, your close friends, your employer and anyone else that is important to you in your life.

 

Some people are not going to know what a WHY statement is and why you have bothered to create one. Explain to everyone that you have now found your true life purpose and that you intend to stand by your WHY statement from now on. 

 

Sharing Provides Accountability

 

By sharing your WHY statement with the important people around you will make yourself accountable and more motivated to live by it. You may not feel that you need this added accountability because you have a strong will, but you will be surprised how much this can help you to be the person that you truly want to be.

 

Not everyone that you share your WHY statement with is going to hold you accountable. Some of your family members and friends may not even notice that you have deviated from it. Others may notice, but then show sympathy to you and say things like “well you tried and that was the main thing”. This is not going to help you.

 

Think about who will make a good WHY statement buddy. This is a person who will truly hold you accountable to your WHY statement and will let you know in no uncertain terms of you fall of the rails. They are not going to be sympathetic to any deviances and will give you a hard time if you do not live by your WHY statement.

 

Is it necessary to Share your WHY Statement with everyone?

 

There are going to be some people in your circle that just don’t get it. They may even laugh at you for creating a personal WHY statement and tell you that you have just wasted a lot of time and effort. 

 

Some people are going to tell you that you will never live by your WHY statement. They know you very well and feel that you will deviate from your WHY statement at the earliest opportunity. We all have these kinds of people in our lives who see the negative in everything.

 

So, should you share your WHY statement with these people? To be honest only you can answer that question. If you know that a person is going to hit you with a barrage of negativity when you share your WHY statement with them then you need to decide if you are going to be able to handle this.

 

Some people can handle this kind of negativity well. It actually makes them even more committed to their WHY statement. Others will find this negativity difficult to deal with and it may make them think that they are wasting their time with a WHY statement.

 

You need to assess what kind of person you are and how you will react to any negativity. If you think that any negativity will affect you badly, do not share your WHY statement with these kinds of people. 

 

The truth is you can never totally predict how people you are close to will react to you telling them about your WHY statement. Some will be enthusiastic and show encouragement. But others that you expect the same reaction from may be negative about it. You need to be prepared for any eventuality.