How Your Immediate Intentions Impact Your Performance
There’s a key ingredient that’s missing in most performance management methods. It took me decades to realize it was missing. I’m not alone among the high-performance experts who’ve neglected to explain the importance of intentions.
On a typical day, we check our day timer to notice the next goal-oriented activity, adopt an accountability mindset to silence excuses. and take the action required to achieve desired result. You’ve seen this sequence of steps before:
Goal → mindset → actions → results
What could be missing?
We’re ignoring the role of intentions in impacting performance. And yet, intentions are an essential piece for achieving your future breakthroughs.
The Difference Between Intentions and Goals
An intention is an aim for immediate impact, that sets the direction for action. Immediate impacts could involve:
- How you want to feel while engaging in an activity
- Your followers’ perception of you as a leader
- The tone of your communication to persuade people to collaborate with you on projects
- The impact of your email to engage the interest of an influencer
- The quality of thinking you bring to chaotic situations—rationale reasoning instead of predicting worst-case scenarios
Notice how intentions differ from goals. Goals describe the desired result of a series of actions.
Intentions reflect the immediate impact of any single action during the moments of pursuing a preferred outcome.If you’re not being intentional, you’re just reacting to whatever thought, stimulus, or sensation grabs your attention as seconds pass by.
Unintentional reactions are often driven by the convenience of staying in comfort zones. You’re not even close to delivering your best effort.
In writing this newsletter, I intend to draw your attention to the importance of intentionality in performance. Right now, what’s your intentionality as a reader? Is it to identify actionable ideas? Do you want to become more aware of high stakes situations where you can consciously decide your intentions?
Shifting Intentions Creates Breakthroughs
When you workout in the gym or jog, you probably have fitness goals for the year and for the workout. Do you have intentions to trigger your physical movements for each exercise repetition?
As a masters track athlete, I compete in the long jump, sprinting down the runway precisely from 93’5” and jumping from the take-off board into the sand pit 8 feet away. If a long jumper’s spikes hit beyond the take-off board, the referee calls a “foul,” and the jump isn’t measured.
In my first track meet this season, I overran the take-off board on all three of my jumps. Just before each jump, I quietly focused on the intention, “Right foot hits the board.” Unfortunately, I focused my eyes on locating the board but lost touch with swinging my arms fast to accelerate my sprint speed approaching the jump.
In the next meet, I shifted my pre-launch intention to “Fun + Full blast.” I trusted my practice drills of regularly hitting the board from 93’5” would carry over into the meet. Instead of focusing my eyes on the board, I looked to the end of the sand pit, the direction to launch my body.
My shift of intentionality worked splendidly! I hit the board on three of my four jumps and achieved my season record long jump of 10 feet 7 inches.
I realize you’re probably not going to start long jumping next month. Nevertheless, the main point of my example is profound for all my readers. You can choose to be intentional at any moment. Right this second, you can choose to be intentional by sitting with your back flush against the back of your chair rather than sitting hunched over.
Do You See the Power of Choosing Intentions?
Here’s the stark truth: Your behavior is either intentional or largely an unconscious repetitive reaction to circumstances. Are you starting to see the unrecognized performance capacity that can now be unleashed when you deliberately practice choosing your intentions moment by moment?
Ruthlessly Honest Question
Your Heroic Experiment for This Month
What is a vital goal you haven’t made desired progress on? What intentional action will you take this week to build momentum in making progress?
My request to readers: This is the first writing I’ve done on intentionality. I’m eager to take on new topics. Pause for a moment to consider: What issues would you like me to address in future newsletters? Send to artturock@outlook.com.
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