How to Translate Your Best Intentions Into Action

Intentions are those things you “plan” to do. Depending upon how strong your belief in the intention is, it may be distorting your reality making you believe that you are acting on it. Just knowing what you intend to do it seldom results in action taken or a particular outcome.

All of us either have or can acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to be very good at what we do. However, the best intentions will not make that happen by itself. Only the decision to act on those intentions can bring about the desired change.

So how do you go about translating your best intentions into the right actions to achieve the desired result? Sometimes in our effort to create the best intentions we continue to ask more questions and require more information than is necessary which leads to procrastination. Consider the following:

Create a personal vision describing what you’re trying to accomplish. For example, if you want to be a better leader you might describe how you want to be seen as that leader and how do you want others to describe you as their leader.

Start with taking just the first three steps towards what you want to achieve.

Evaluate the results of those steps and then plan whatever next steps may be appropriate; take those and repeat as necessary.

Judge yourself only by what you achieve from the actions you take and not on your intentions.

To accomplish these four steps requires 100% commitment on your part to hold yourself accountable and to periodically check in on how you’re doing. When needed, adjust your actions, pace or direction to put yourself either back on course or to accelerate your actions on the course you’re taking.