How often does I’m hoping to, or I’m planning to turn into I meant to?

Every day we find ourselves in situations where objectives that were “intended” to be completed, for one reason or another were not.  Sometimes it is a perfectly legitimate reason, and other times it’s followed by a list of excuses.  In either case, it’s still not complete.

There are two important lessons to be learned from these situations:

1. Be Realistic.  One of the keys to not setting false expectations due to good intentions is to take the time to be realistic when setting them.  Challenge your intentions, and ensure that they’re reasonable.  It is far better to commit to a realistic time frame and complete it early, as “intended” than to be overwhelmed by good intentions and fall short.
2. Commit, Plan, and Act.  As a result of setting more realistic expectations by checking your intentions against reality, you are now in a position where you can, and must, commit to accomplishing them.  Put together a plan, and execute that plan, regardless of whether everything goes exactly as expected, because it rarely will.

I took a long time to think about, and question my “good intentions” prior to my previous post, committing to a blogging schedule.  All too often people, myself certainly included, make commitments based upon emotions and intentions, without first validating the reasonableness of, or their commitment to, their intentions.   By following those simple steps, it is possible to turn “good intentions” into something more.

“It is not good enough for things to be planned – they still have to be done; for the intention to become a reality, energy has to be launched into operation.  – Walt Kelly (Pogo cartoonist 1913-1973) 1

Next time you hear yourself saying I’ll try to, or I hope to, take a minute to ask yourself, is this realistic, and if it is, are you willing to commit to completing it, even when something else comes up…

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1 http://thinkexist.com/quotes/walt_kelly/