Intentions vs. Commitments: The Key to Outperforming Expectations & Building a Track Record of Success

Would you like to know how to help yourself (and your clients) consistently outperform expectations and build a track record of success?

If so, mastering the distinction between intentions and commitments is essential.

This distinction often comes up at the end of my coaching sessions, when it’s time for the coachee to define their action steps for the next session.

Quite frequently I run into the situation where the coachee’s desired commitment is leaps and bounds beyond any of their past performances.  For example, they haven’t been to the gym in three years, but they want to commit to going every single day starting next week.

While thinking big and aiming high can be beneficial, it can also create unnecessary problems.

When we set commitments that are too ambitious (especially ones that don’t align with past performance) we may unintentionally set ourselves up for frustration or even failure.

Instead of fueling momentum and a track record of success, we risk creating a frame of failure and discouragement.

So what do I recommend?

Rather than over committing, I preferred to leave them as intentions. It is great to have high intentions, however I prefer setting ‘commitments’ that are minor improvements from your last iteration.

In fact, I recommend setting your commitment as the largest step from where you are to where you want to be to which you feel zero resistance (while holding ‘intentions’ that are more bold).  

Do you feel any resistance at all? If yes, make your commitment smaller.

For example, if someone hasn’t been to the gym in three years, instead of committing to daily 60 minute workouts, they can ‘commit’ to exercising once this week for at least 10 minutes while holding the ‘intention’ to go every day for 60 minutes.

The default tendency of many people will be to ‘discount’ the commitment as “not enough”, however when we operate in this way you will feel great when you accomplish your commitments, you will be building a track record of success, and it is quite likely you will supersede your commitments.

Not only will you feel good that you accomplished your goal but you’ll feel great that you surpassed expectations, and build a solid foundation for working towards achieving your full intentions.