Reader
You're reading something different today.
I've changed the name of this newsletter from Live Your Quotes to The Intention Gap.
Not because I got bored. Because I finally found the words for what I've been circling for twenty years.
Let me take you back.
It's 2006. I've just finished university. I've got a job lined up at Canary Wharf. I've got a new wife and a brand new baby.
Then the recession hits.
The job disappears. And suddenly I'm scrambling, applying for anything, watching the chaos unfold, not knowing what comes next.
I land a role at Barclays. Customer service. On the phones. Earning next to nothing.
But while I'm there, I meet this woman. She's been at Barclays a while. We get talking. I ask her what she really wants to do.
"I want to study chartered accountancy," she says.
I light up. "Snap. So do I. That's my plan. What's stopping you?"
She shrugs. "I'm just waiting. Thinking about it."
"How long have you been thinking about it?"
"Seven years."
That conversation has never left me.
Seven years of intention. Zero action.
This isn't one woman's story. It's all of us.
Every January, millions of people set resolutions. By January 19th, most have already quit. Researchers call it "Quitter's Day." Up to 90% of people abandon their goals by mid-January.
Not because they lack desire. Not because the intention wasn't real.
Because intention alone isn't enough.
Intention doesn't land on a blank slate. It lands on top of forces that have been running your whole life.
- Your nervous system.
- Your conditioning.
- Your identity.
- Your fear.
These forces don't disappear because you've set a goal. They show up the moment your intention costs you something.
That's the gap. And I've seen it in every boardroom, every leadership team, every founder I've worked with. Clear intentions. No traction.
The tricky thing is, the intention gap is hard to see in yourself.
We run on autopilot. Day in, day out. We're so busy doing that we don't notice the disconnect between what we're doing and what we actually want.
That's why I talk about creating stillness. The Monday, Wednesday, Friday check-in. It gives you data on yourself. Without it, you just keep pushing, wondering why nothing's changing.
I've fallen into this gap more times than I can count.
As a husband, I thought I was doing brilliantly. My intention was to be a great partner. So I planned big holidays. Fancy surprises. Grand gestures.
Then my wife and I had a real conversation. She said, "You know what would actually make a difference? A random voice note. A letter. Flowers on a Tuesday for no reason. The small things."
I was stunned. I'd been so focused on the big, impressive moves that I completely missed what she actually needed.
Good intentions. Wrong target. Still falling into the gap.
That moment made me take my own advice.
Last year, I slowed down and started looking at all the work we've done at MindsetShift over the past seven years. And I realised something.
This is the problem we've been solving across 5 continents all along. Every engagement. Every intervention. The Intention Gap.
Whether it's exec coaching, the leadership programmes we co-create, the off-sites we run, this newsletter, the podcast.
All of it is designed to help organisations and individuals close the gap between who they say they want to be and who they actually become under pressure.
Once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it. Everything we do lives under one roof now.
That's why the name changed.
The name is different. The mission isn't.
This is still the newsletter that won't let you off the hook.
The book I'm writing is about this. The scorecard I'm building, which I'll share more about soon, is designed to help you measure it.
But for now, I want you to sit with one question.
One Question for This Week:
- Where in your life have you been "thinking about it" for seven years?