This is a word that I never use lightly. It is a mindset, it’s how I attempt to approach my day – sometimes successfully, sometimes not so much. You? Do you try and act and speak with forethought. Or are you more of the ‘que sera sera’ type – one who acts and speaks uncensored and unthinking? OK a bit harsh and one of those two ‘states’ doesn’t imply or assume the other. My point is that we need to be intentional about what we do and say and that mindset does not impact on being spontaneous.
Obviously ‘intentional’ seems to assume purposeful, but what else does it presume? Webster describes the word as: “conscious, deliberate, intended, knowing, purposeful, willful, voluntary…” And I stopped at this synonym – voluntary. Thus being intentional is a voluntary but willful decision. One is never accidentally or unknowingly or unconsciously – intentional. You are intentional in your words and actions because that is what you intend.
So if you’re not intentional in your actions and words, by definition you must be unintentional. Webster says that this means, ‘not’, opposite of, contrary to the base word. So this behavior is also mindful, willful but is simply the opposite of the root word. Since ‘intend’ means to plan or want to do, the unintentional means you plan or want to do the opposite. From this basis being ‘unintentional’ holds all the responsibility that intentional does and really isn’t unthinking. Yes? Obviously this slightly tongue-in-cheek discussion is meant to make all of us aware that being intentional is about the focus rather than just the behavior.
Regardless, it would seem that we would always want the result we ‘intend’ so to ignore an intentionality (should be a word) is self-defeating. If we truly want to accomplish (fill in the blank) then in order to reach success we need to do what needs to be done rather than to sit back and hope everything works out. I tend to believe that intentional is really a behavior word, it is something we do.
