Being Intentional

One of the phrases I’ve come to love of late in my journey of evolution, is “being intentional”. All of our actions stem from intentions whether we consciously recognize and regulate them, or not. For example, showing up to work every day could arise from intentions like needing to earn money, wanting to fulfil our sense of duty and responsibility or in unusual circumstances, even wanting to escape from the confines of our home and its burdens. To each our own. So let’s start from the basics. What does an ‘intention’ mean? The dictionary definition of the word describes intention as a mental state that represents a commitment to carrying out an action or actions in the future. ??

Literally all of us go through the humdrums of life, driven by our intentions which translate into actions and outcomes. However, when we grow conscious of our intentions and how they translate to actions, this realization opens up immense power for us to self-evaluate our intentions and to consciously further our intentions in support of outcomes that can create an impact way beyond our self-interests. And thus enters the notion of intentionality or being intentional. In simpler terms, it is a conscious effort to carry out an action on purpose. Traditionally, the connotation of doing something on purpose or intentionally, has carried a negative tone. Quoting a few examples, “you made me trip on purpose”, “you deliberately made a fool of me”, “you provoked me on purpose”, … ring a bell?

However, today, I’d like to re-focus your mind and thoughts to seeing this phrase in a new light. To make my point, I’ll start with a brief recount of an animated movie by Pixar named Monsters Inc. In this movie, the city of Monstropolis is fuelled by screams emanating from the fears of little children and the story revolves around 2 monsters who aim to make it into the Hall of Fame by being the scariest monsters who generate the highest screams. However, the movie ends with an interesting twist that the power generated by screams of joy from children is multiple times more powerful than the power generated by their fear-driven screams. Drawing from this storyline, while “intentional actions” can and have been used in the past for highlighting harmful intent, when they are put to good use, their impact is felt far more intensely and positively. So “being intentional” towards good things is the call to action I am rooting for. ?

Taking my life as an example, I love helping people succeed, especially at the workplace. If I were to help people when I “have time” in between my busy schedules, I’d still be doing justice to my intention of helping my colleagues at work succeed. But to draw the distinction, my way of being intentional about helping others succeed, is to “make time” for others when they seek my help or guidance. Often, this means spending extra hours on the job so I can make sure my own responsibilities are attended to without disruption, or sometimes, making time on weekends so I can lend an ear and hand to help my colleagues as needed. So as a tried and tested concept, I speak with conviction about my experience and the impact of ‘being intentional. So why is being intentional a much desired and valued characteristic in our interactions with one another? According to my world view, here’s my top 4 reasons:

1.?????Our intentions create our reality. Hence, though we can say whatever we want to be or become in life, being intentional helps apply careful planning and forethought to achieve the kind of reality we want to live in and we want to enable for others in our circle of influence.

2.?????Being intentional bridges the gap between our intentions and actions by driving more conscientiousness towards executing our intentions. It helps us make the switch from “I’ll pursue my intention when I have time” to “I’ll make time to pursue my intention”.

3.?????The level of impact and outcome we can realize by intentional actions is multiple times higher because we are willing to invest consistent time and effort towards our intentions. For example, wanting to hit the gym everyday and managing to do so thrice a week will yield different results from making the time and effort to hit the gym every day, considering the level of effort spent at the gym is the same for each visit.

4.?????Your intentionality towards others will make you a more desired, valued and sought out resource since your investment of time and efforts in honouring your intentions will cultivate good-will, a good example and a good seed in others to nurture and bear fruit in their lives. To me, that is personally rewarding on many levels of self-satisfaction.

For those of you readers who’ve never stopped and taken time to evaluate your intentions and how your intentions translate to actions and outcomes, I sincerely hope you will begin your journey today in choosing to “be intentional” about the things that matter to you. To encourage you in your pursuit, I leave you with the words of Mindy Hall, “Every action has an impact. Choose wisely, the impact you want to have.”?