Back June 23, 2016

Intention vs. Result – The Result of Intention

The role of intention, as we see it: setting the coordinates for the product building journey.
An intention is the first step. Then it translates into clear objectives. It is a mix of vision, intuition, and practical things: what you would want to do + need to do + what others need you to do + what you can actually do.
When people expect results – move away from intention?

A result driven mindset is what business people praise most. Managers expect that from employees, investors expect it from entrepreneurs. What should managers and entrepreneurs expect from themselves? What should a startup team (as a whole) expect from itself? While we value results, we don’t lose sight of intention. Call it motivation if you want. It is what fuels us to obtain results. There are voices who support moving from “want to” towards “accomplish”. In other words, leave aside intention and start getting results, which is a healthy way of thinking business wise.
But we are also “makers”. We build something (besides running a new business) and the “wanting” part takes the main lead. We succeed exactly because we want to make it happen. And we get results because we always intended to. It is where we wanted to get; we didn’t get there for the sake of the result.

Then which one should be in charge? Intention or result?

Hard to say. There is no ”one good way”; at least we haven’t found one. While we value intention, we never ignore results, getting things done. So we could sum it up in “intention to get results”. There shouldn’t be a question of which one prevails, but of how far to go with either. Linger in endless intentions is not the way, for sure; neither focusing on getting a result, perfect or paltry – just to have something. The way we see it: obtain a good result (not the best, nor perfect), while always keeping in mind the intention for better and further.
What good comes from mere intention? Nothing, except for the result.

So far you may think our praise of intention betrays naivety, lack of realism. Bear with us for a few seconds and you’ll see why this assumption is wrong.

Yes, intention as in “day dreaming” has no place in business; in the tech world even less. How about intention as “incentive that fuels the engine to get from A to B”? What if the intention is to get a result? That’s a different story. Then the “intentional mindset” translates into “wanting to get results and always go further”.

So you see, there are intentions that lead to results. On the other hand, a result without an intention to back it bears little substance and has solid chances to fade away.

At ThinkOut, we are building on intentions to get results that fuel our vision. We focus on materialising the essential as a first step, while our minds are refining more ideas, perfecting and putting them into practice each at a time. This is how we let our intentions lead the growth of our cash flow platform and startup.

Author: ThinkOut