“Action Always Beats Intention”

Having just returned from our 2016 IDS (Interior Design Summit), I thought that the advice and encouragement shared throughout the Summit was worth reinforcing and sharing with everyone – as action does always beat intention.

Ask yourself how many notes you have filed away from seminars and/or conferences you attended – intending to set the world on fire with what you learned – and those notes have remained filed away ever since that event.  Personally I have been there!  I have cleaned out files and come across great information 10+ years after the event, having never looked at it since that event!  I remember having such great intentions and thoughts of how I would apply whatever I learned, without ever setting a plan of action and identifying priorities.  Consequently as soon as I returned to the office I set those notes on a shelf or put them into a file and let myself get caught up in OPP’s (other people’s priorities) and nothing changed.

A number of years ago I decided I needed to replace intentions with actions.  I hate waste and I was wasting time and money.  It is a waste of time and money to invest in attending events without putting the key nuggets you identify into action, and similarly it is a waste to attend and then ignore the possibilities to make positive changes in your business. Another plus to being proactive is that usually those changes you make in your business will transfer into your personal life.

So, to all of you, whether you attended IDS or not, I want to challenge you to replace intentions with action!  If you are serious about making some changes, then let’s set up a plan of action.  Remember if you fly to events, you can use the time flying home to start on your plan of action and if any team members are with you, all the better to be able to use that time away from the office.

1.    Make the decision to turn intentions into action.

2.    Immediately calendar at least 2 hours per week for planning/thinking time – then use the first

3.    Use bullet points to make a quick list of all that you learned that you want to apply in your business

4.    Quickly prioritize that list – you may think you need it all immediately but you need to identify an order in which you can make changes.

5.    As we always encourage – identify just 3 items that you will address immediately.

6.    Calendar/schedule action!

7.    Remember, you must energize your team to “own” and accelerate those actions/changes and be sure those changes become rooted into your business to be sure they do not become a “flash in the pan”.

Finally, once you have set these 3 changes in motion, move down the list, identify the next 3 items you want to address and follow the same process to continue to drive your business forward.

To paraphrase from Gandhi:  “Be the change you wish to see”