If we can come to terms with the fact that our actions matter more than our intentions, we begin to live life in a completely different way.
We begin to shift our focus from what we are telling others and how they respond to what we say we will do. We focus more on our actions, and most importantly the consequences of our actions.
Take a look at these 5 reasons why it is more important to focus on actions in life as opposed to your intentions.
1. You are defined by how you treat others, not by how you justify your treatment of them
One of the most important things we do in life is to define “goodness” for ourselves. How you define good and evil, right and wrong, will determine the person you are.
And it all begins with how you treat others – not just the people around you, but also strangers. How much importance you give life itself and the way you treat living beings will define you as an individual.
Even if it happens only from time to time – we all have our own reasons for treating others poorly.
While the more abhorrent of us search for ways to justify murder and rape, the majority search for reasons to be ill-mannered, incompassionate, aggressive, and just plain mean.
And sure, we do sometimes have good reasons for acting in such ways, but usually, those reasons are void of valid justification.
2. You are defined by the beliefs you follow, not by why you believe them
It is way more important what you believe than your reasons for doing so. You cannot go through life justifying your beliefs by explaining that this is how you were brought up. You are an autonomous individual and you are able to change what you believe by growing as a person.
3. You are defined by the people in your circle, not by your excuses for keeping the wrong people around
It isn’t easy to cut those off who deserve it – even if we know exactly why and what must be done, we cower away and refuse to do it.
Most of the people you meet in life will not earn the right to be your friend.
This, of course, does not mean they have less value than the next person, but it does mean keeping them around can have a negative effect on you.
You must respect everyone, but you do not need to allow everyone into your life. It may be hard to put up those boundaries and cut people off, but it is totally necessary.
4. You are defined by the one you love, not by why you are trying to move on
You can try to replace the love you had by moving on and replacing it with a new one. However, if you truly love that someone – you will always love him or her. It isn’t something you can run away from.
That’s not to say you cannot find love once more, but even if the memory of your old love goes into rest mode, it is still there, existing beneath the surface.
Trying to push on when something is holding you back clearly defines the person that you are. It defines who means most to you in life, and it defines, to a certain stretch, the future in front of you.
5. You are defined by the life you build for yourself, not by the excuses you managed to adopt along the way
Nothing shows who you are more than the life you built for yourself.
Your life is the totality of your thoughts, beliefs, loves, passions, inhibitions, weaknesses, dreams and goals – accomplished or not.
Regardless of what your intentions were. Regardless of how you intended your life to turn out. It doesn’t matter why you decided to take this particular road, neither does it matter why you are who you are now.
If you think free will exists, then you must accept your reality as your own doing.
Not your intentions, but the outcome matters most. The way things turn out and how they affect the world, matters.
All else is simply rationalizing your failures. But who cares why you failed? What matters is that, given all the opportunities you had, you did not take them, and chose the life you have now.
Do you agree with these points? Let us know by joining the conversation in the comments, and please share this article if you enjoyed the read.