Intention vs. Action

I hear a lot of people, particularly in the self-help world, talk about intention. “It is my intention to create XYZ.” Or, “I am setting my intention on the things I want.” And attached to intention are its siblings attraction and manifest.

“I intend to attract a new relationship into my life.”
“My intention is to manifest abundance.”
“I want to align my intentions to…”

Or worse,

“My intention is to manifest attraction.”

Now please don’t misunderstand. I see innate value in all three of these mindsets. Setting an intention is important. It is the first baby step towards committed change. And manifesting and being receptive to attraction are important steps in expediting what we wish to create in our lives.

But the crucial key to unlocking the life of our dreams is action. Pure and simple.

The apostle James stated, “faith without works is dead.” Intention without action is also dead. This quote, one of my favorites, from Werner Erhard sums up my thoughts perfectly:

“It is important that you get clear for yourself that your only access to impacting life is action. The world does not care what you intend, how committed you are, how you feel or what you think, and certainly it has interest in what you want and don’t want. Take a look at life as it is lived and see for yourself that the world only moves for you when you act.”

The world only moves for you when you act. When you move, the universe moves.

So get moving!