Lessons – Process, and the Poverty of Our Intentions | Conversations with Coaches | Boxer Media

Hello, and welcome another special episode of the conversations with coaches podcast. I’m your usual host or usual lead, Kevin. and I am going solo today for another one of our lessons, mini-episodes. And this is another quote that lives on the whiteboard, which is certainly becoming a segment at this point of this already segmented sort of mini-sewed series. But whenever somebody brings something to me, especially when they have it in the form of a quote, or when I say quote, it’s just it’s a very well-encapsulated, well-stated, well-phrased, and well-delivered idea thought representation that sticks with me in a way that I find to be very valuable. And whenever I find one of those, whenever someone gives me one of those, I treat it like the gift that it is, and the really good ones, the ones that really stick to me, tend to end up on my whiteboard for a time, sometimes semi-permanently. There’s stuff that’s been out there for years, or stuff that’s been up there for months, there are a few things we’ve been up there for days, to try to refresh the soil, kind of rotate the crops every now and again. But there’s one that’s been up there for quite a while. Not just because I like the way that it sounds. It does sound good. It’s a very, and it’s a very well-spoken idea. But it also speaks very directly to something that I have found to be very, very prominent in my professional development, I think, over the last few years. And also, as I look back over the course of my life, it’s something that I’ve I’ve spoken to before in this very like mini-series here on the podcast, from different perspectives or in slightly different ways. I’ll just read the quote. It’s one you’ve probably heard before.

I cannot remember who it’s attributed to, but I’m pretty sure the first place I heard it was in one of those long-form interview podcasts with, like, you know, luminaries in various fields. I forget which one it was, but I know it came across on the podcast first, and I don’t know who got that quote from whom. But the quote is the process saves us from the poverty of our intentions. That’s obviously a very, very well-phrased using words like process and poverty the alliteration, and it’s the word the poverty of orange phrase, the poverty, your intentions, there has a very poetic ring to it does denote the kind of Shakespearean honesty it might, it may well be some Shakespeare enclose them derivative of a play that I read and forgotten or something I honestly don’t know, it would be hilarious if that was the case if I quoted Shakespeare at you in some modified way. Let’s hope not, or let’s hope so. Please make fun of me if that’s the case. But I love, I should say, and I love this quote so much. I love this line. I love this idea. the process saves us from the poverty of our intentions. And it’s really just another way of saying, We seldom. I think there’s another quote, too, that I believe I’ve shared on the podcast before it goes something like we seldom rise to the level of our intentions or dreams. Rather, we usually fall to the level of our training, which is, again, another way of saying process saves us from the poverty of our intentions. Basically, you could reach for the stars or beyond, crash, and burn really hard. But what process does prion the process? I suppose it’s pretty obvious what that means. But it kind of means you’re training your systems, your habits, the aspects of yourself that you’ve built up over time, the rules that you adhere to consciously and unconsciously, your process of going about doing things if there’s a thing that needs to be done, rather than has to sort of reinventing your manner of doing it on the fly every single time you do it, you establish a routine of some kind, some process that you can lean on that can carry some of the weight, so that no matter what your day might be like no matter what your circumstances might be like, no matter the context, no matter your intentions, great or small.

That process can save you from maybe poorly articulated intention, poorly thought of intention, again, circumstances beyond your control. I just really, I really like how this gets at the importance of systems, which is, I mean, that’s why I’m sharing this quote here on conversations with coaches. This is a huge element of what makes coaching so valuable. So I say valuable, I mean necessary. I think we’re getting to the point now where more and more people agree that it’s really good coaching is necessary if you really want to be successful in life, not just as a professional but just personally to beat your best self process saves us from the poverty of our intentions. And I feel like I believe I’ve spoken with a number of coaches lately who have specifically hit at this sort of twin element of are these twin elements of really strong coaching, where every coach will bring you like a system come with something that you can kind of like lay the foundation with, you know, a blueprint, a plan a process. But really, what that does is allows the coach to be right there alongside you, guiding you, helping you to discover and hone your intentions. Your mindset is a big part of this too. So love this quote, and wanted to share it with you in that particular context because I find it to be a very concise way to express something that is foundational that is intrinsic to good coaching. So again, one more time process saves us from the poverty of our intentions. I just love the way it sounds, and it helps when there’s just a linguistic pleasure to the way something is said. But we can talk about my love of language another time. I will talk to you again very soon.