Living with Intent

Living a life of intent means doing everything with intent.

When was the last time you did anything in your life with an intent? And what was that intent?

Most of the time when I’m doing something it is with the intent to get it finished. Nothing else. Yesterday I mowed the yard. My wife so beautifully pointed out a couple of spots I missed. And it pissed me off. Not because she said something. She just pointed out my shortcomings. Not with mal intent, but with a questioning intent.

Most of the time when I mow the yard it is with the intent to make it look good. So if I missed a spot I would go back and fix it. I make sure the lines are straight and even, and that I create a pattern with the lines that are pleasing. Yesterday it was just to get it done. I wasn’t working at it.

Today I was listening to The Real AF with Andy Frisella, the creator of the 75 Hard Program, and heard him talking about needing intent to really get anything done well. To the point, he dropped out of his last 75 Hard Challenge this year because he wasn’t able to be intentional with his workouts because of an injury. He felt that he wasn’t giving it his all and couldn’t because of the injury. So he is waiting to heal and then do it again.

I want to do things with intent so they actually make me better and make the world better. While listening to Andy in the episode I had an epiphany. I’ve accomplished a lot of things in my life. Most of them with the intent to just finish. And sometimes that’s noble and sometimes that means just doing things half-assed.

When I went through Marine Corps Boot Camp I just wanted to pass. Since about half the recruits I started with dropped out, just finishing is an accomplishment. But after that, I went through a police academy and my intent was to be one of the best. We started with 100 and ended with 33. I was the top shooter in the class, third academically, and fifth overall in the class. I think I could have done better but didn’t get my physical fitness in gear until the second half of the class. I placed closer to the middle in fitness and that dragged my overall standing down.

When I do things with the intent to be the best that I can be, I do much better.

Have you noticed the things you do better versus the ones that are half-assed? I bet you feel like I do, that you do as much work at the half-assed ones as the ones you try your best.

I went to the gym today after listening to the episode and had a much better workout. I actually went with the intent to get stronger and not to just get it done.

Tomorrow I will head to work with the intent to be better at my job than last week.

What about you? Are you doing things with the intent to be better than last time? Or to just get it done?

How could you do things with intent?

My simple way is to look at what I’m doing and try to accomplish whatever it is with an intent. If it is just a simple task of going to the store to get milk, how could I do it faster? Could I plan a better route to the store? Through the store faster? Or even find a better store?

Instead of just cutting the grass to get it done, next time, if I’m in a hurry, my intent will be to do it faster than last time. Or, if I have time, to make it look better than last time.

If we do everything with the intent to do it better (you define better) than last time, you will get better. If you get better, the people around you get better, and the world will be a better place if everyone is just better. Making the world better is my why behind doing this blog. I’d like to leave the world a little better than I found it. And the easiest way to do that is to make myself better and the people around me better.

Do a 75 Hard Challenge and become a better you,

Ben Branam

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