Get What You Want by Closing the Gap

Ep: 173

“Tomorrow, I’m going to ________.”

How do you fill in that blank? Are your intentions to wake up earlier? Go for a jog before work? Start looking for more fulfilling work? Spend more time with your family?

No matter how much we “intend” to do something, statistics say that 60-70% of the time, we don’t follow through. It’s called the Intention Behavior Gap. And if you really want to create change in your life, you have to find a way to close that gap.

Today on The Bridge to Fulfillment, Blake explains why we so often fall into this trap, and why it feels so hard to create a bridge between inaction and change.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to turn good intentions into great results by aligning actions and resources in order to accomplish your goals. You’ll learn how to create movement and ride on the heels of that momentum, rather than blaming your circumstances or making excuses. And, if you find that you don’t have the tools or knowledge, or you don’t know what the right next steps are to create the change you’re looking for, then the first step becomes identifying who can help you and reaching out.

Nothing will change until we do. The power is in your hands. 

 

What You’ll Learn:

  • Understanding the “Intention Behavior Gap” (1:24)
  • What it takes to create change (2:28)
  • How to close the gap and create movement (3:23)
  • The real barrier between where we are and where we want to be (4:27)
  • How you can create change right now (5:36)

 

Favorite Quotes:

  1. When you’re thinking about creating change, it doesn’t just take energy. It takes overcoming very normal biological fears of the unknown.
  2. The longer we sit in either fear or procrastination, the more likely we are to stay there.
  3. We create our own suffering by holding on to things we don’t want.
  4. The only barrier in life is the one you believe. And often, that barrier is actually you.

 


Additional Resources: 

Rather than hoping the grass will be greener, identify what the RIGHT next step is. 

We can help you do just that.

Get clarity on where you are on your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optional paths to get there, and the right next step to take.

Start your complimentary, Personalized Career Fulfillment Plan by going to www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan

Want free resources to set your job search up for success? You can get them by going to: https://thebridgetofulfillment.com/mistakes

Transcript

Blake Schofield 0:05 Hi, I’m Blake Schofield, founder and CEO of The Bridge to Fulfillment, mom to three, USA Today top 10 professional coach, and former corporate executive who got tired of sacrificing my life for a comfortable paycheck. My mission is to expand women’s perspectives and empower them to achieve greater impact at home and work without sacrifice. This is The Bridge to Fulfillment.

Blake Schofield 0:39 Ever wanted to do something, but it just didn’t work out? Between 60 to 70% of the time, we actually don’t take the action we intended to in life. Stop for a second and think about the impact of that across many areas of your life, the things you intend to do 60 to 70% of the time you don’t take action on how does that impact your relationship with your children, your parents, your best friend, maybe your team at work. And honestly, yourself. If you start to think about that impact, you begin to realize how significant it really is. Intention, therefore is clearly a poor predictor of actual behavior. Have you ever told yourself, I’ll do that later. That’s all my plan for next week. Yeah, I’m gonna start on Monday. Or maybe when contemplating doing something more significant or creating more significant near change. I want to wait until I’ve saved up enough money. Or I know this is what I want, but I just don’t feel ready yet. All of that is called the intention behavior gap. Or it’s also known as the values action gap. And like the name suggests, this is when your stated intention does not match your actual action or behavior. I’m going to get up 30 minutes earlier every day turns into hitting the snooze button twice a morning, I’m going to shut work off and be more present with my family turns into rushing out the door to get home, and then checking email late at night. This year, I’m going to change jobs turns into dragging yourself out of bed each morning complaining while headed to the same job you don’t love. Anytime we think about taking action, it takes energy. And when you’re thinking about creating change, it takes not just energy, it takes overcoming, you know very normal biological fears of the unknown. An object in motion stays in motion and an object at rest takes a heck of a lot more effort to move.

Blake Schofield 2:45 The problem is the longer we sit in either fear or procrastination, the more likely we are to stay there. So when you tell yourself, you’re going to do something, but you don’t fear and stagnation, when. So why does this intention action gap matter? Well, it matters ultimately, because we all end up creating a huge gap between what we say we value in life, and the life we’re actually creating. Personally, I started working on closing my intentions action gap several weeks ago. I started first by sitting down and recognizing where were the biggest gaps in my life. From what I said I valued to what I was actually doing. It led me to some incredible insights about the places in my life where I said that I valued something, but I wasn’t aligning my time, actions or resources behind it. After getting honest with myself, and recognizing that I’m no different than anyone else, I realized the place that I could create that difference was creating change for myself. So as a result, I immediately began taking action on things I’ve been procrastinating on. And where I felt mental resistance, I journaled and identified what were actually the barriers in my way, and how I could get past them. As a result, I’m happy to say the actions I’ve taken have built stronger trust in myself, and my capability of building the life that I want. I can see the tangible rewards of taking the actions that I have and the movement even closer towards the life I want to lead. And here’s what I know for sure. It’s really easy to blame circumstances for where you are in life, or what you quote unquote can’t do. But the reality is that the circumstances are almost never actually in the way we are. We create our own suffering by holding on to things we don’t want. By creating limits for what we can have in life by listening to others instead of listening to ourselves by trying to solve things on our own. Instead of recognizing that we have blind spots just like everyone else.

Blake Schofield 4:59 We say maybe we want something, but we don’t align our actions or resources in order to accomplish it. So we must first look in the mirror and start with ourselves. Nothing will change until we do good intentions don’t equal great results. And in fact, the data shows that good intentions don’t usually equal action either. It seems so simple. And yet, if you really want to start to look at your life, I bet you’ll begin to see places in your life where you say you value something. But your actions and behavior are not aligned at all with creating that outcome. So how do you create change? How do you get over this gap? Well, we can close that gap by taking action immediately on the thing we say we want. When we take that one step forward, we start gaining momentum in object in motion stays in motion. And we can begin using this tool building a muscle, looking at the places where in our lives, we are saying one thing and doing another. And as you start to think about the areas that you want to change in your life, if you find that you don’t have the tools or knowledge or don’t know what the right next steps are to create the change you’re looking for in your life, then the first step becomes identifying who can help you and reaching out. Change starts with one simple step. And the awareness you’ll gain from putting this into practice. Well, that can last a lifetime. If there’s anything I’ve learned in these last few years of massive personal and professional growth and alignment, it’s this. The only barrier in life is the one you believe. And often that barrier is actually you. The good news is that the power is in your hands. It starts with taking that very first step and doing it now. Until next time, have a great week.

Blake Schofield 7:06 Thanks for joining me today. Rather than hope the grass will be greener, identify what the right next step is. We can help you do just that. Get clarity on where you are in your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optimal paths to get there, and the right next step to take. Start your complimentary personalized career fulfillment plan at www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan . Again, you can get your personalized career fulfillment plan at www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan . Thanks again for joining, and have a great week ahead!