I want to talk about the word “premeditation.” I want you to understand and fully engage in premeditated living.
The word premeditation has two parts. It is the prefix “pre,” and the core is the word “meditation.”
So many people have a misconception of what meditation really is. They think it is sitting alone and emptying the mind. That is not what meditation means!
The word “meditation” simply means to think. Meditation is actively, intentionally, thinking, focusing our thoughts on a single thing. When I say “Let me meditate on that” it means, let me still the voices in my head and think about that single thing. It is not emptying the mind. It is concentrating the mind. “Pre” means to think about and plan something before it happens.
Premeditation is thinking about and planning something in advance. On all my social media platforms I use the phrase “living intentionally.” Over the last 8 years, the biggest changes in my life have all been about thought–using thought intentionally to move myself in the direction of the life that I want.
To live the life of my dreams requires that I dream the dream of my life. I have to have intention. I have to have a plan. I have to have thoughts of the life I want in order to create it.
Most of my adult life has been lived reactively. Life was happening to me. You’ve seen the bumper sticker “Life Happens”? Life does happen. But guess what? You can happen to life instead of letting life happen to you. You can be proactive and premeditative about how your life unfolds. I want you to think intentionally, to live premeditatedly, and to think about things before you actually go out and do them.
In any setting in your life you can be intentional, premeditate your day or certain events. Whether it is a big speaking engagement or coaching calls, I take some time beforehand to prepare myself by formulating an intention of what I want to accomplish and generating the energy I need beforehand.
This is something you can do in your own life. You don’t have control over the people around you. But you do have 100% control of yourself. By premeditating what the situation will be, I am stronger in the coming situation. I am not blown about by the attitudes and negativity of other people. I want my positivity to influence them. But if it doesn’t, I don’t let their negativity influence me.
Premeditating and living intentionally allows you to set your energy, allows you to set momentum before the event even happens. In doing this, it is already going in the direction you choose. If you sense it’s not going the way you want it to, you can take intentional steps, maybe even change a couple things you are saying or doing, or ask different questions to try to move it in the direction you wish.
Whether you are having dinner with friends, parenting, dealing with problems, relating happy news, little changes or huge life changes – premeditating a desired outcome works!
How many times have you been out with friends and everyone is talking and having a great time, but the group discussion turns negative? With proper intention, circumstances can be steered back towards positivity. Having a desired outcome allows you to control the situation. Though you can’t control people, you can always control you and it’s easier to do when you’ve thought about it in advance.
I am not talking about becoming a person who can’t do anything at the last minute. Premeditative thinking can happen in minutes or seconds before an event or activity, or even after something has already begun. It is not something that needs to hold you back. I want you to enjoy life and be spontaneous! Once you are there, create an intention.
For most of my adult life, I just let life happen to me. I didn’t have strong intentions. I didn’t have premeditated ideas about how I wanted my life to happen. I had vague dreams and wishes, I had wants. But I had not set any specific intentions about what exactly my life would look like. I didn’t know what steps I would take to make sure those things happened. My life didn’t become what I wanted it to be until I started living it with intention.
Happen to your life instead of life happening to you. You can do that by premeditative living.
You are unique and will make an amazing contribution in the world. Are you making the contribution you want to make? Time to live intentionally!
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You may also listen to me talk about this on my “Life Is A Marathon” podcast: LIAM 092 – Premeditated Living
Great word, premeditation!