The Importance of Focus and Thoughtful Action
Intentionality is a mindset that can transform how we approach both life and work. It’s about honing focus, practicing discipline, and managing energy thoughtfully to make deliberate choices and take purposeful action. Whether it’s watching a young ballerina’s dedication or learning from Lionel Messi’s game strategy, moments like these inspire me to think about how I structure my own days, the rituals I hold onto, and how I can align my energy with what truly matters. Intentionality reminds us that lasting impact isn’t accidental—it’s created through thoughtful, deliberate action.
This Year's Guiding Word
For those of you who follow our blog, you'll remember that I frame a word of the year that serves as our guiding principle. Last year, I chose evolution. As the definition suggests, this past year was about diversifying from an earlier form into something new…innovating our way through the year with gradual development and growth.
For this year I’m choosing the word intentionality.
Intentionality is defined as: “the fact of being deliberate or purposive.” As a philosophy, Webster defines the state as: “the quality of mental states (e.g., thoughts, beliefs, desires, hopes) that consists in their being directed toward some object or state of affairs.” Other sources speak to intentionality as creating meaning brought about by one’s own will.
These explanations of intentionality resonate with me. Through our own will we direct our thoughts and hopes toward a certain objective or aim. For me, having intentionality in my personal and professional life will show up in three ways: 1) Focus, 2) Discipline, and 3) Energy Management.
FOCUS
In my own leadership (whether of myself or others), having strong focus will help me with being intentional. It means making hard choices both about what to do AND about what not to do. It is about focus in the moment and focus over the long term and a deliberateness about how I spend time.
I was reminded of the importance of focus and intentionality when my husband and I attended ABT’s performance of Swan Lake at the Metropolitan Opera House where we saw 22-year-old soloist Chloe Misseldine perform in the lead role. She was magical—it helps she literally looks like a beautiful swan in her body type and arm span.
This was her debut performance in the role, and we were blown away. She was the first soloist to perform a principle-level role and there were plans in the works to promote her at the end of the Met season. It was one of the best arts performances I have ever seen…the technical capability of the role combined with the artistic interpretation was outstanding (as we know in our profession those two things rarely go hand in hand).
As the company concluded its performance, we reached the fourth encore of screaming and clapping from the audience (an unusually high volume, to be sure). Then, the Artistic Director stepped out and, right on the spot, promoted her, calling it an “exquisite and flawless performance.”
We were able to give witness to an artist coming into her own at a whole new level on one of the world’s biggest stages.
On the way out, I heard a young couple recanting how lucky Chloe was to be promoted at such a young age. Tom and I glanced at each other and when we got outside, we both knew that luck had nothing to do with it. She spent her life up to that point honing her craft and preparing herself for the opportunity to shine. She didn’t get to that point without extreme focus. She must have made thousands of choices about what to do, what not to do, where to spend her time, and so on.
With intentionality, she applied focus and directed it to achieve an objective.
It’s important to note that she also didn’t get there alone. For me, focus doesn’t mean a singular obsession to the exclusion of others. The real joy in achievement of a goal, comes in accomplishing it through and with other humans. This requires us as leaders to apply our focus to be present with those around us and look for opportunities to enroll others in a shared vision, direction, or goal.
So, if focus helps us center our intentionality on “the what”, the second area helps us focus on “the how”: Discipline.
DISCIPLINE
When I think of the word discipline, I bristle at the mention of it. As a big picture, creative, and free spirit, being disciplined sounds rather restrictive. But the more I’ve thought about it and practiced it, I’m finding value in the structure it brings me.
This past year, I purchased a subscription to Master Class and I’m really enjoying learning from various individuals across so many different fields of expertise on how they have found success and fulfilled their passions in their own lives.
I have watched all the Master Classes by Thomas Keller. He is the author of five cookbooks, the first and only American-born chef to hold multiple three-star ratings from the prestigious Michelin Guide, as well as the first American male chef to be designated a Chevalier of The French Legion of Honor, the highest decoration in France. His foundation is devoted to inspiring culinary excellence in young professionals and preserving the traditions and quality of classic cuisine in America. His restaurants include French Laundry, Bouchon, Bouchon Bakery, Per Se, and Ad Hoc.
I couldn’t be farther away from him in my own approach to cooking. I’m the person who doesn’t ever use a recipe, likes to try out new things I’ve never done before, and much to my husband’s chagrin blow up the kitchen by making quite a mess!
So, in some ways, my admiration for Keller is rooted in the differences between my cooking style and his. I’m intuitive and creative and Keller is disciplined and meticulous.
In one of his classes, he imparted a few lessons that he believes have made his restaurants and career a success and I believe they have quite a bit of applicability to leadership:
- Organization: Be organized so others can follow what to do well; set out a template. Be ready for the task; prepare yourself and your station ahead of when you need to perform.
- Efficiency: Know what to do first and second and so on, and be efficient in your movements so as to produce the intended results. Don’t take 10 steps when you can take 5; set up the flow of your work to reach your outcomes. Organize yourself and when you take one step less, and over a period of time, it adds up to hundreds of steps a night.
- Repetition: Embrace and relish repetition if you want to be a good cook, doing it over and over again. Embrace the idea of repetition to be good at anything; this is when things become embedded. By doing this, not only you can do it, but you can teach someone how to do it and bring up the next person with the skills to succeed; practice is key.
By layering in more order and structure to my personal and professional life, I’ll be much more likely to achieve my goals and intentions through and with others.
So, if focus helps us center our intentionality on “the what”, and discipline make us more likely to achieve our goals with “the how”, then energy management is “the why”.
ENERGY MANAGEMENT
Burnout. Low energy. Rising stress. Distractions. Poor nutrition and little sleep. Mental and physical health challenges. Unfortunately, each of these items has become an all-too-common story for most individuals, including me.
Energy conservation or management is about working on my overall health and wellness, so I have energy when I need it most. While I’m seeking to apply intentionality, certainly focus and discipline will help my energy levels because I’m making better choices about what is on my plate to begin with, along with how I approach that in a disciplined way. So, how can energy management help us better tackle what’s left on our plates?
An oldie but goodie article in Harvard Business Review, "Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time" addresses this question: “The core problem with working longer hours is that time is a finite resource. Energy is a different story. Defined in physics as the capacity to work, energy comes from four main wellsprings in human beings: the body, emotions, mind, and spirit. In each, energy can be systematically expanded and regularly renewed by establishing specific rituals—behaviors that are intentionally practiced and precisely scheduled, with the goal of making them unconscious and automatic as quickly as possible.
I’ve incorporated several rituals that are helping my better manage my energy. This began by just paying attention to myself for a few days. When did I feel tired? What was I eating? How often was I moving? How was I breathing? Where did I feel pain or even anxiety? What was my environment and was it comfortable?
By being more self-aware, I was able to better define what would help and when, along with what times of day I was better suited to achieve certain tasks. I added in a breathing practice and meditation practice. I focused on my sleep and getting enough of it. Each human is wired differently, so what will work for you will more than likely be different than the things I’ve mentioned. Regardless, even these small shifts have helped me renew my energy at key points and have been particularly useful during higher-stress times.
I had the opportunity to see the GOAT himself, Lionel Messi, earlier last year at an Inter Miami football game. Messi’s accomplishments are many:
- 8 Ballon d’Or awards (first at 22)
- 6 European Golden Shoes
- 8 times FIFA named world’s best player
- 34 trophies with Barcelona
- 2022 FIFA World Cup
- Over 800 career goals
- Time’s 100 most influential people in the world.
- $1B in career earnings
I’d followed his career and always enjoyed watching him play but seeing him in person was an extraordinary experience. I immediately noticed his ability to create space, orchestrate the team, pass with precision, and his incredible speed to target when a goal is in his sights.
But what I was most impressed with was his energy conservation. Part of this is just his tenure on the field and his age, but it was so noticeable how he avoided distractions that wouldn’t lead to a goal. He generally leaves the drama behind with other players, doesn’t take a dive to gain a favorable call, and doesn’t chase down every ball. In some ways, it was odd to watch. He wasn’t always where the ball was—instead, he was positioned where he needed to be next to create the next opportunity. As I continued to watch the rest of the match, I saw it for what it was: energy management. By not using his energy up, it was on tap for the moments he needed to call on it.
This experience showed me that energy management isn’t about checking out or being disengaged, but rather it’s about making wise choices and positioning myself well, so I have energy when I need it most to take advantage of the next opportunity.
When I look back on thousands of coaching conversations with leaders over the last 22 years with FlashPoint, fundamentally when leaders were at their worst, I could always tie that behavior back to stress or frustration or the like—when they were at their lowest energy levels. In other words, to be at our best as leaders, we need a strong game plan for how we’ll manage our energy and how to renew energy through intentional rituals and practice.
I am looking forward to 2025 and eager to see the ways my intentionality (with focus, discipline, and energy management) will help me create meaningful impact for leaders and for our FlashPoint team.
Throughout the year, FlashPoint offers a variety of webinars, product showcases, and public workshops where clients and interested participants alike can participate in and learn more about the powerful suite of assessments and programs. Visit our Events page to discover our latest offerings:
