Why Intentional Living Isn’t Enough: Choosing Deliberate Living
When I decided to take some time off from the blog, I knew things had to change. After all, I was on the verge of a physical breakdown. I didn’t realize it at the time, not in a direct way, but I was conscious of the fact that things had to move differently.
The thing is, I am very good at putting together plans. I know how to plan a quarter. I know how to take that quarter plan and make it work for a week. I know how to take a weekly plan and make it work for the day. But once I got to the daily plan, I often found that I wasn’t getting things done.
At first I thought it was because I was overwhelmed, overstretched, and overtired. I would rather spend my time reading a book or doing a craft than doing something that move me toward my goals. I called it all sorts of things, from laziness to burnout. But in truth it wasn’t any of these.
The problem was that I was only making intentions, and I wasn’t following through with deliberate action.
Why Intentional Living is so Popular
So of course the first thing that I wanted to do was look for a solution on Google.
What I found surprised me. It seems that many people are struggling with this issue because the number of sites and articles on the topic of intentional living are everywhere.
People were obviously not accomplishing what they set out to, and putting the blame on the lack of focus.
Hence, intentional living.
This is of course not to be confused with unintentional living. Unintentional living is where you spend most of your time doing whatever comes up next or whatever captures your fancy.
Three Frogs And Intentions
There’s an old story that a friend once told me.
Three frogs were sitting on a log in the middle of a pond. The frog in the center turn to its fellows and said, ” I intend to jump off this log.”
So how many frogs were left on the log?
The answer may surprise you: three.
Just because one frog intended to to jump off the log does not mean that he actually did it.
The Road To Where?
The old idiom says “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
This has always been a saying that I’ve been fond of. It seems to me that far too often people that intend to do good and of going into a different direction altogether. I’ve seen far too many cases in my life where people fall short of their goals – or even their very simple commitments.
If the intention is going to count, it’s not a matter of paying lip service to an empty promise. It’s a matter of taking action.
This phrase also ties in “actions speak louder than words.”
It really doesn’t matter what people say they are going to do if they don’t follow it up with a concrete action. Promises are empty unless they are followed through on.
What Is Deliberate Action?
I don’t believe it’s enough just to take action, either.
Action without considered direction will not get you where you need to go. Or at least not efficiently.
Think about embarking on a journey without having a clear idea of where you’re going. If you’re in Washington DC and you’re trying to get New York, you won’t get there by driving south.
You have to know what you are attempting to do and take action to move you toward that goal.
That is deliberate action.
Why Intent Isn’t Enough
So that brings me back to my initial premise. Having an intention to do something is not enough to complete a goal that you have set.
The only way you are going to get a goal done is if you take action on it. Having intention is not enough.
So I understand what the people who are attracted by attentional living are aiming for. After all, it’s something that can be done without any effort. You set your intentions and expect them to magically happen.
Nothing happens without action. This is why intentional living is not enough.
Action Item
And since we’re talking about actions…let’s set some actions to take on this article.
I’m going to divide this into two possibilities.
1) If you are a fan of intentional living, figure out whether or not those intentions are actually moving you towards your goals. If you find yourself not taking action on those intentions write down three things that you can do to make them happen.
2) If you are not in the intentional living camp, take a look at something you want to accomplish this week. When you find yourself being dragged off in another direction, ask yourself if this new action is going to move you in the direction of your goal. If it’s not, take another action.
So what do you think? Are intentions truly enough for you to hit your goals?
Image by vironevaeh. Licensed under Creative Commons. Text added.
