Intention is one of the most important features of life, both individual life and social life. Consider what you intend to do or say, perhaps in comparison to what you actually do or say. You will often find a difference. Consider also how you have had some challenges with other people who didn’t understand your intension to do something, or perhaps say something. You might also remember how someone talked about their intention to do something but never got around it. Or perhaps, the person said something that had a negative effect on you only to hear that s/he “didn’t intend to offend you”? Because intention is so very important, there are many challenges, both individually and socially. Let me discuss the matter of intention by discussing:

• The nature of intention
• The difference between intention and outcome
• People who are intention-based
• People who are not intention-based
• Potential solutions to the problems related to intention

What is intention?

If you look at the word intention and pull it apart, you get “in” plus “tension.” This is a bit of a definition of the word, which actually derives from a Latin word that means stretching out or movement. The “movement” or “stretching out” that is involved is in one’s thoughts or feelings. Intention is distinct from planning, which is the actual laying out the groundwork for what might be said or done. It is also different from a number of other words related to the future, such as hope or expectation.

We need to consider that intention is a bit like so many other words, namely that it is not entirely definable even though it is quite important, like the other undefinable words that we encounter every day of our lives, like love, God, truth, and life itself, even time, distance, and mass in physics that are understood but not defined.

In a nutshell, intention is about what you want to say or do.

The difference between intention and outcome

Intention is that function that leads us to some action, action that can be verbal or physical. We might conjecture that there can be intention and outcome that are “spiritual” but that is a bit beyond our level of discussion at this point.

You need both intention and outcome in order to be successful in life; there are people who are much more intention-based or much more outcome-based; you need to be able to assess both your intention and the outcome of what you say or do.

People who are intention-based cf. those who are outcome-based

I have many patients who are primarily intention-based. Theirs is a life that is looking to do great things, make the world a better place, and otherwise create some good outcome. They enjoy the possibility of achievement much more than the outcome. In fact, they are often dissatisfied with the outcome because they had hoped for a kind of perfection. Outcome is never perfect. These folks look to the future, to some degree live in the future, and think about what might happen in the future. They look primarily at their own intention and understand that other people may have different intentions. I could quote Thomas Aquinas who said that intentions are always perfect because they are motivated by love: love of God, love of people, love of property, or love of some engagement among these three elements.

Outcome-based people have some intention but much more activity, and often many more words, than intention-based friends. I admit to being one of these people. I used to pride myself in a kind of mantra where it didn’t matter what the intention was; what mattered was what got done, or perhaps said. Such people tend to be doers. They usually accomplish much more than their intentional friends. They have lived a life of accomplishment and often have much to see that has been done.

Problems related to intention or outcome

Intention-based people have often struggled in various elements of life, whether in their families, in school, in work, or in their relationships. America, at least at its core and its history is very much oriented towards outcome, not so much about intention. School is certainly about outcome, i.e. homework completed and grades achieved. Likewise, work is most certainly about what is achieved or done, i.e. outcome-based. I often hear from my intention-based patients that they “want” to be this or that, or they want the world to be this way or that way, or they want people to do this or that. I have one patient who wants to be President. Unfortunately for him, he is unable to do what it takes in order to get elected. He is but an extreme of intention-based people who have the best intentions, as Thomas said, but can’t find ways to achieve the goal of success in some aspect of life. In simple terms, as the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said, such people are those for whom “everything is possible, but nothing is real. The challenge such people face is that of imperfection in outcome compared to perfection in intention.

If intention-based people tend to live in the future and want a kind of perfection, outcome-based people live in the present and often say or so do things that are quite imperfect. The company Nike used to have a saying, “Just do it.” I used to have a mantra something like, “Do it; do it wrong; do it over.” While this accomplishes much for these outcome-based people, the landscape is often littered with property and people who have been hurt by the “just do it” mentality. Too easily such people ignore the consequences of acting or speaking too quickly, not looking to the possible harm such action or words might have. Mistakes tend not to bother such people, sometimes to such an extent that they can too easily admit to error and move on not realizing the harm that their words or action have had on property and people.

Valuing intention and outcome

There is equal value in both of these essential elements in life. Consider that you tend to fall into one camp or another. You will see the strengths of what you knew was right to do or you will see what you have done. If you can assess both the intention and the outcome, you will be a better person. You might evaluate the statement in the poem Desiderata where the author suggests to dream but not get lost in dreams; to do but not get lost in accomplishments.