Taking Action: Having Intentions Vs. Being Intentional

People talk about being intentional, but just what do they mean when they say that? In this post, we’ll talk about intentions vs intentionality.

INTENTIONS VS ACTIONS

I think one of the hardest lessons I had to learn growing up – and by growing up, I mean I didn’t learn this until my mid-20s – was that my intentions didn’t matter to anyone but me. It was my behavior that mattered the most.

Maya Angelou said:

Remember, people will judge you by your actions not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold but so does a hard-boiled egg.

Ooof. That one hits hard.

When I was younger (and sometimes even still today if I’m being honest), I would intend to do things all the time, but I couldn’t always get my actions to line up with what I had planned:

I could intend to be nice, for example, but unless I actually made an effort to be mindful of how I spoke to other people, well…I wasn’t always nice. 

Or I could intend to save money, but unless I actually stopped spending money on nonessential items and putting it instead in my savings account, the intention didn’t matter at all.

And my intention to remodel my first house? I got nowhere on it because I never took any action on it.

SETTING INTENTIONS

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you may have noticed that at the beginning of most months, I share my intentions for the month ahead in a post. (I did not do it for September however, because this month has been nuts, so don’t go looking for that one.) When setting my monthly intentions, I state around three things that I would like to accomplish during the month that are outside of my normal routine and tasks. I do this to push myself to accomplish a few things I might not normally get done, but that I feel need to get completed.

Like I said above, the thing about setting intentions is that if I don’t follow them up with a plan of action, they are simply a nice idea. A great wish. A good idea. Without action, I won’t actually do what I intend.

This is where being intentional comes in. I have to have intentions – whether we’re talking about monthly intentions, yearly intentions, or even my intentions for the day ahead – and then I have to be intentional about completing them. I have to block out time on my calendar to actually complete my intentions. If I don’t, there’s a good chance I won’t get them done because life will happen, as it has a way of doing, and one thing after another will distract me from what I had intended to do. But if I put it on the calendar – if I treat it like I would, say, a doctor’s appointment – then I am more than likely to get it done.

BEING INTENTIONAL

Intentions are our thoughts, our dreams, our hopes, our wishes, our desires, our “I want to’s.”

Intentionality is our action. It is doing things on purpose.

Being intentional is about achieving things like saving money, or going to the gym a certain number of days of the week, or cleaning out the garage even when we don’t feel like it. 

It’s about working extra hours to gain a promotion, or making time to read a book that’s been sitting on our nightstand for months. 

It’s about cleaning out our email inbox before the work day is through, or about vacuuming the living room before bedtime.

Being intentional ensures that we complete certain tasks at home or at work or at the gym, for example. It means we decide what we want to do, and then we create a plan for doing it. Being intentional doesn’t always mean we reach our goal, but it is the only way to stand a chance at it. 

LIVING UP TO OUR VALUES

Being intentional is not necessarily all achievement based either. Even more so, it’s about living up to our beliefs and values. Doing things like: 

• scheduling regular date night with our significant other to show that we value the relationship
• cooking dinner a certain number of nights a week if we value a homecooked meal and want to provide one for ourselves and our family
• going to church or another spiritual group regularly if we value our faith
• smiling and being friendly to the cashier at the checkout because we value kindness
• volunteering for a nonprofit because we value giving

Of course, what intentionality looks like to me and to you will be completely different. Our lives are different. Our beliefs and values may be different. 

Please hear me say that when I write that about scheduling a date night with your significant other or cooking for your family – I am in no way saying those are the only ways to show that you value your significant other or your family. That’s not what I’m saying at all. Everyone values different things, and then how we show how we value the things looks different for all of us. 

If you’re not even sure what I mean by value, what I mean is – what is important to you? Work, family, friends, health…what? It may be worth it to get out of it on paper and then some journaling on that.

Once you know what you value, and you can decide how do you show that you value those things. And then the next thing is to intentionally live like you value those things.

THE TAKEAWAY

Happen to life – don’t let life happen to you. Decide what’s important to you – to your day, to your month, to your year. Decide what’s important for your relationships, for your health, for your spirit, for your mind. And then be intentional about how you act like those things are important to you.

Being intentional is a daily practice – one that takes discipline and commitment. Will I achieve everything I’ve intended to do every day? Heck no. Will I sometimes overexert myself and try to do too many things? Of course. But do I stand a better chance of doing what I intend to do if I commit to action? Absolutely. And if I’m not intentional, will the days and months and years pass by and I’ll wonder where all the time has gone? Without a doubt.

Until next time,

Jeri Austin