Stop Telling Me Your Intentions, and Start Showing Me Your Actions
I hear a lot of stories about people’s intentions. “I’m going to make a film, write a book, or launch a company.” What’s the old saying? “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Yep, that’s right. Everybody has intentions, but that won’t pay the bills or put food on the table. I’m glad that you have good intentions – but the question is: What are you doing about it? Show me the action steps you’ve outlined to make that dream happen.
Goals and strategy are two different things. Goals (intentions) are where you want to go, and strategy is how you plan to get there. And never forget that ultimately, people will judge you by your actions not your intentions.
I’m not that interested in intentions, because everybody has them and not many ever happen. But actions – that’s where the rubber meets the road.
Phil Cooke (in his blog) said: “I’m not that interested in intentions, because everybody has them and not many ever happen.”
I get your point. But, from my perspective, the possibility of the means by which you carry out your intentions subverting and altering your intentions seems more dangerous than simply not acting on your intentions for some questionable reason. This is because it is so easy to reason that if you cannot make your intentions happen in a certain preferred way, then you should just settle for other ways which progressively compromise your intentions and adjust your intentions accordingly.
I think that a close balance between your intentions and the means by which you carry out your intentions must always be maintained. The former anchors the latter and the latter helps manifest the former. And you must constantly “ping” one with the other.
There are dreamers who are not doers. The follow through is lacking. If you don’t have follow through you have nothing. Passivity kills. I like what Nike said, “Just Do it”. It takes a mental breakthrough to get past the intentions state and move on to the Just Do It phase. Many find it difficult to get to that place of discipline.