They were setting goals for the team. It felt that all projects of last year were valuable and so, the easiest suggestion was to run them again this year for the new recruits.

That’s when the word intent was first spoken by the coach, with a simple question ‘what is the intent of that project this year?’

The project was useful last year, gave them exceptional results, but running it this year just because they did it last year did not seem to make sense.

I feel the question on intent is such a simple one, that you don’t realize when it creeps up on you and starts to grow and challenge you and your thoughts.

• Action without intent is like driving without destination:

Sometimes many of us assume the role of passengers in a car and leave the direction setting to the driver. Driver could be your manager, your spouse, your parent,… What if your driver hasn’t got a destination in mind? Would you be happy if you were simply taken for a ride which was not joyful? What needs to change for you to partner with your driver and take responsibility of the journey? OR stop the car?

• Outcome-based solutioning is the result of starting with intent:

The famous book “Start with WHY” is about starting with intent. It’s only when we express the why, that we express our desires & our motivations. Its also useful to see if the desires and motivation are right, before embarking on the solutioning. Stating the intent brings clarity to the outcome, both in your minds as well as the team. And then you can then inspire everyone to work together towards a collective outcome.

• Intent grows up to become purpose and give meaning:

I like to think of intent as a seed that seems to grow and influence our ‘way of thinking’. So we start to become more conscious of our actions and inactions. It allows us to challenge status quo, mediocrity, bureaucracy… and if given time, you may even start seeing a better purpose and meaning to your life.

‘Maybe you’ve been assigned this mountain to show others it can be moved’