The Power of Intention

Hello Mr. Kennon,

I am writing to you for two reasons. One, I came across your site today and an immensely inspired and encouraged. Your technical acumen is belied only by your experience-driven humility. Thank you for the good work you are doing, and continue to do so.

Two, I attempted to write this to you at https://www.joshuakennon.com/contact-the-site/, but the code for the Contact Form is broken.

Sincerely,

Marlone Finley
The Chicago Thinkers Journal

Joshua, it certainly is a blessing to receive such amazing posts such as this one. Sharing this glimpse into your thought process has truly been a boon to this world. What a wonderfully powerful thing to share.

I see that I do not do this. I see that I have been trained to not ask why or ask intention, because others will just force you to do it their way anyways. For example I may want to be alone with a potential life partner because I like them, but I will not be allowed to because premarital relations are wrong. I may want to automate my job with technology to save the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost inventory, but I will not be allowed to because the boss doesn't want it done that way. I may want to speak to others in a public speaking class in college, but I will not be allowed to because the teacher wants us to be quiet and read certain books. Joshua surely you understand what I'm saying, if I recall your posts correctly you had the privilege of coming from a background where if you had the money to buy the bread you wouldn't have the money to buy the peanut butter (a comment which stuck with me because I remember growing up and eating slices of bread all week then my parents would suddenly have enough money to eat Taco Bell or McDonalds on Friday).

So you've been from here to there, and became a tall thinker indeed! It is a great thing to hear about someone else who has done it, and know that I can do it too.

Joshua, I don't want to read and comment on this post and forget about it, as I do with so many books I've read. I don't want to complain that this is not how I was trained to think. And I don't want to sit around and give you undeserved flattery, every word of admiration is undoubtedly one that you have earned. So the question I have after reading this post, and please forgive me my poor and unrefined way of asking because I'm only five days video game free so my mind isn't quite there yet. But what a blessing to work 16 hour days and now know that I CAN do it and I CAN choose to work on those things that I want and not just the things that entertain me, but what a tangent that was!

Indeed I apologize I never intended to leave a question at the bottom of a 'wall of text.' Yet here it is: how would you, Joshua, or anyone else reading this blog, approach the remembering and the implementing of this great idea of intention if you had never heard of it before but knew that you wanted to use it to better your life?

(In short if you were in my shoes and were writing to someone still in poverty mindest instead of the fabulously wealthy reader base that you have, if you were in my shoes how would you implement this idea and remember it given that I can look at my bookshelf of books that I've read and remember at most 1 idea from each book but usually nothing and certainly nothing that has altered how I live for very long).

I'm not Joshua but since you opened the question to everyone, I would approach this in the same way you would anything that you needed to ingrain into your very being: start small and very structured.

1) Print out his list:
"Intention Questions
Why am I doing this?
What do I want to result from my action? What is the best possible outcome?

Strategy Questions
Does the best possible outcome align with my short-term and long-term goals?
What are the risks (financial, personal, reputational, etc.) of this action? Can I live with the worst possible outcome?
What opportunities or challenges might arise down the road due to taking this course of action?
Is this the most efficient way to achieve whatever it is I am hoping
to achieve? Is there a course of action that can get me the same
results with less energy, time, or cost?

Moral and Philosophical Questions
Does this course of action align with my deeply held moral and
philosophical beliefs? Is it consistent with my own, idealized, best
version of myself?
What are the costs to others? Are those costs fair?

Implementation and Execution Questions
What steps will I take, in which order, to implement this desired course of action?
Are there ways I can outsource the implementation tasks that are not
the best use of my time so I can focus on being more productive on
high-return activities?"

2) Keep it with you wherever you go (pocket, wallet, etc)

3) Refer to it when you're about to make a decision you consider important

4) At the end of the day, reflect on all your actions while looking at the list and ask "Why?"

5) Mark an X on a calendar for everyday that you do this and keep doing it for at least 6 months.

Do all of that daily WITHOUT missing a day and you'll find it becomes a habit quickly enough. Best of luck to you.

Also not Joshua, but I think this is very good advice for how to build the habit of being more mindful and deliberate in your decision making process.

I just wanted to share that as I have been more reflective after taking an action, whether big or small, it has seemed to make room for me to slow my decision making. Asking why I just did something has been a key to asking those same questions before I act in the future. Just a little bit of space between idea and action.

Often its just a small thing, whether it is something seemingly unimportant that I said, choosing what to eat for lunch, even little time wasters like checking social media or the news when I have nothing going on. They can all provide an opportunity to reflect on why I just took that action. I don't wait until the end of the day, but try to think about it at it as soon as I recognize the choice I just made and have a moment for contemplation. As I've built that habit of questioning my motivations behind even the smallest choices I have noticed that I've started to ask the right questions before I take action. That's not to say a period set aside at the end of the day for reflection can't be useful, as it is definitely is helpful as well to have a more structured time for looking at your motivations and decisions, especially with the big decisions.

Yes Derek you are right, this split second between thinking and doing something is HUGE. Its like a heat seeking missile looking for and redirecting itself towards the heat. A normal person might examine what they're doing once or twice a year. But the daily or even constant reflection on the why of my decisions these past few days, yeah it seems to force me into making different choices regardless of my emotions.

Its just one more bother that should go away if I ever do get control of my time. All of these bothers have to be done in order to succeed because success is like making a pie. But just like dieting, hopefully one day I can finally go back to eating normally.

OMG thank you Abe so much for this, I had forgotten the great Jerry Seinfeld method! I never seem to be able to pull off an X on the calendar when it comes to my most important things in life like exercising for an hour a day. But I believe that if I add the power of intention to my list of things to do to earn an X then my mind will start thinking in new ways and come up with a solution. Eventually. 2018 holds great promise as the year of the fence.

Have you been doing this? I've been doing this for just over a week now and its depressing. Just the simple act of asking "Why am I doing this?" had made me realize that I only have one approach to the world. I treat everything as if it is a class at school. I'm supposed to be given something to do, then I choose the option or the way I want to do it, then someone is supposed to grade me and lead me to the next thing on the path.

I'm seeing it everywhere. Reading a board at a fast food restaurant and choosing the best one and they provide which one I should consider. Reading a Joshua article on mental models then I provide my best guess as to what they mean and then I get feedback from Mr. Kennon. Being given a project at work and I'm supposed to work as long as it takes to finish it then the boss is supposed to give me increased rewards or responsibility. Dating someone by choosing between preset dating ideas and then they break up with me and I get angry if they don't tell me why. Its because I was approaching it from that way.

Its a really dark place to be knowing now that I have no other ways to approach the world. A way that would actually work. Mental models are like ways to go about solving a problem. Gathering data is like what you do to solve a problem. Setting goals is like choosing courses and then I wait and expect to be shown how to go about it assignment by assignment. Like I set a goal for better health and then the doctor tells me to follow a strict diet and I did this past year and would have went back for the next assignment if they still allowed him to practice. And my life has passed me by while I wait to get to the good parts. Where's the family and the friends and the job I'm supposed to have been assigned by now.

I thought I was improving but within this framework I can't actually get anywhere. I am nowhere, I am nothing. Did the people I care about see and just not say anything? This hurts.

and worst of all, I'm gonna need to buy a calendar for next year.

You've noted something that some people never come to realize – most people learn dependence from birth. That is: people are accustomed to being told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. It starts with public education. There's no choice in the curriculum; there's little choice in the manner of learning (audio, visual, kinesthetic, etc); and proficiency is tested over growth (e.g. Being able to perform arithmetic vs Have you improved in your ability to perform arithmetic from your baseline). If I'm being honest, I'm also guilty of this – I much prefer to be told what to do and how. It requires less forethought and helps share the burden of the success/failure with the individual/group that created the parameters.

What's important is recognizing your propensity to fall into this mode of thinking and asking yourself whether it's a bad thing or not. You can learn quickly by looking to others for confirmation/validation if you're learning a new skill. This is why I ask Joshua questions. I want his feedback on the subject because he has skill sets and knowledge that I do not possess. On the other hand, you also have to be willing to question the responses and critique that you're given. I ask for feedback in many areas of my life – nutrition, health, finance, social situations, business – but I still retain a healthy skepticism of others view points and knowledge. Basically, I try to be as objective as possible when coming to a conclusion.

Unfortunately, I feel as though my response might be TOO general to provide you with
enough context so let me give you an example:

When I first started lifting weights in high school, I simply followed the workout program that my High school football coach gave to us. It involved bench, squat, deadlift, and a percentage based system where you would increase the weight by 5-10% every week. Looking back at it now, it's lacking in A LOT of areas.

- It doesn't take into account other physical activity that could impair recovery

- There's no measurement of fatigue/recovery that allows you to adjust as needed. Current measurements I use include RPE/RR/HRV (Rate of Perceived Exertion, Reps in Reserve, Heart Rate Variability)

- There was no accessory work, only compound lifts (Overtime this can result in overuse injuries)

- There was no varying of the rep scheme. Most of the sets centered around 7-10 reps. (Rep scheme is a proxy for stimuli. If you want power/strength, you train in the lower rep range – usually less than 8. If you want endurance/hypertrophy, you'll train in a higher rep range – usually more than 10.

- There was no varying of the tempo or velocity of the lifts (We know that strength/power are very specific. So, if you want to train for explosive movements, you would want to train at a target velocity (e.g. 70-80% of max speed at a specific load) and you would stop the set once that velocity began to decline by 5-10%).

All that knowledge that I have now was accumulated through progressive research, seeking other experts, and experience. So, it's important to remember that you frame of thought is going to vary according to your knowledge/experience with subject matter. In finance, I'm still a novice. This is why I often defer to others and ask them for feedback.

All that to say, it's perfectly OK to allow others to “grade you” and “lead you to the next thing on the path” especially if you're a novice on that path. As long as you don't outsource your own critical thinking, as long as you remain objective throughout the learning process and continually seek justification for your mentor's opinion, there's no harm in seeking guidance.

Thank you, its a lot for me to think over. And this competency versus growth thing...now that's a BIG new idea that stood out.

Anytime! Enjoy yourself and try not to compare yourself to where others are in their life or what they've accomplished. You're asking questions and becoming more self-aware about your own thought process and actions. That is an accomplishment itself.

Do keep us updated on progress!

I actually posted an entire reply to this and it seems to have vanished into thin air. I'm sorry but it took me a while and I'm not eager to spend another 30 minutes only to see it vanish again.

Suffice to say that there's nothing wrong with seeking guidance from others or as you phrase it "lead [you] to the next thing on the path." It's something that I still utilize often especially in areas where I believe myself to be a novice (e.g. finance). It takes time, exposure, and knowledge to specific subject matter before you may feel comfortable striking out on your own to CREATE your own path.

We learn this method of thinking from public school. We're given subjects to learn - not allowed to choose; we're instructed in specific manners (audio, visual, kinesthetic); and we're tested on proficiency vs growth (e.g. Can you perform arithmetic vs Have you improved in your ability to perform arithmetic). It's a learned dependency that seems innocuous at first until you realize it shapes the way interact with people, new subject matter, and life in general. Now that you've recognize it; all you have to do is be cognizant of it and ask yourself if there are more options than that which is being presented to you.

A simple example might help. I've recently taken to eating simpler foods for the purpose of fitness/nutrition. Going out to eat is sometimes a pain because the menu's are often full of foods that are high in fat/carbs and low in protein. So, I've taken to just asking for grilled chicken breast and a salad regardless of whether it's on the menu or not. I've yet to run into a restaurant that's declined my request. Remember, YOU are in control. You get to decide what to do and when. You get to choose what to do and how. That doesn't mean your choices will be ideal or even acceptable to others but you are capable of dictating your own terms. Joshua talks about this often when it comes to business and taking your business to where your choices will be respected regardless of whether it's commonplace or not.

I actually posted an entire reply to this and it seems to have
vanished into thin air. I'm sorry but it took me a while and I'm not
eager to spend another 30 minutes only to see it vanish again.

Suffice to say that there's nothing wrong with seeking guidance
from others or as you phrase it "lead [you] to the next thing on
the path." It's something that I still utilize often especially
in areas where I believe myself to be a novice (e.g. finance). It
takes knowledge, time, and exposure to subject matter in order to
become comfortable enough to create your own path. I didn't start
creating my own workout programs until I had already been working out
3-4 years. I learned my first programming from my high school
football program. I gathered other info via magazines and input from
successful powerlifters/bodybuilders. And, now at my ripe age of 30,
I review research studies and network with PhD holders in exercise
science and nutrition.

The method of learning your referring to comes from exposure to
public school. We're given subjects to learn - not allowed to choose;
we're instructed in specific manners (audio, visual, kinesthetic);
and we're tested on proficiency vs growth (e.g. Can you perform
arithmetic vs Have you improved in your ability to perform
arithmetic). It's a learned dependency that seems innocuous at first
until you realize it shapes the way interact with people, new subject
matter, and life in general. Now that you've recognize it all you
have to do is be cognizant of it and ask yourself if there are more
options than that which is being presented to you.

A simple example might help: I've recently taken to eating simpler
foods for the purpose of fitness/nutrition. Going out to eat is
sometimes a pain because the menus are often full of foods that are
high in fat/carbs and low in protein. So, I've taken to just asking
for grilled chicken breast and a salad regardless of whether it's on
the menu or not. I've yet to run into a restaurant that's declined my
request. Remember, YOU are in control. You get to decide what to do
and when. You get to choose what to do and how. That doesn't mean
your choices will be ideal or even acceptable to others but you are
capable of dictating your own terms. Joshua talks about this often
when it comes to business. Essentially, take your business to where
your choices will be respected regardless of whether it's commonplace
or not.

Hi Josh, will you have something up on the company site for prospective clients soon? I wasn't close to having a half million investible when you first announced it, but I'm interested in how the firm is going as I work towards it!

Thanks
Steven

'(financial, personal, repetitional, etc.)' < -- Should that be 'reputational'? Or is the risk getting in a loop you can't easily get out of? 🙂

Enjoyed the article!

Joshua,

How are your Christmas decorations this year? Did you bring back the Coca-Cola tree?

Here's an update with pictures, published less than a minute ago!

Hello Joshua, thanks for such an inspiring blog. I have been able to catch a glimpse into the life of a model of true financial and ethical principles.

On the topic of properly evaluating our intentions and their desired outcomes it may be worthy to note that our intentions are too numerous to pause and try to evaluate them on every impulse.

There should be a way to decide on which intentions need such evaluation. This will help eliminate the awkward feeling people may get when they try to put this wisdom into practice and eventually give up as has been my case on many occasions.

Some valid situation for such evaluations may be when choosing a course of action in:

1. Relationships
2. Investments
3. Marriage
4. Religion

To name a few as against having the intention to go to the bathroom.

Let me know your thoughts on these.

Regards,
John