First Draft: The Intention To Action Scale

I’m working on a new, unpolished framework that I’m calling the ‘Intention To Action Scale’ and this is the first time I’m sharing about it publicly.

Its purpose is to demonstrate the roles that the conscious and unconscious mind play in our daily decision making and behavior, which ultimately impacts the results we create and the realities we experience. 

Now here’s the framework:

Imagine an old-fashioned weighing scale that has two buckets, one on each side, where if one bucket is heavier than the other it tips the scale in that direction.

For the sake of this metaphor, let’s say that if the scale tips right then that leads to taking a desired action, and if it tips to the left then it leads to not taking a desired action. In order to live intentional, empowered, healthy, and productive lives, we want the scale tipping right as often as possible.

Okay here’s the next step: The buckets get filled with two types of weight. 

The first type of weight is ‘Conscious Influence’, which represents all of the things we deliberately choose with full awareness. This is when we assert our will and take decisive action that aligns with what we want. ‘Conscious Influence’ is very heavy and can tip the scale in an instant.

The second type of weight is ‘Unconscious Influence’, which represents everything that happens behind the scenes without us even realizing it. It’s made up of all the ways we’re predisposed to act given our evolutionary biology, the way our environment is set up, the beliefs we’ve incorporated over the years and even social context. All of these factors add up as light weights in the bucket, and while each is small, they’re high in number and collectively very impactful. 

’Conscious Influence’ tends to add to the ‘take action’ bucket because we’re unlikely to consciously choose something that contradicts our goals... And ‘Unconscious Influence’ tends to weigh down the ‘don’t take action’ bucket because our minds naturally pull us toward being lazy, fearful, and only concerned with short-term feelings rather than long-term results.

Now this is where it gets good. We always have the power to do what we want. No matter how we feel or how hard it is to do something, we can always make ourselves do it. We can use our will-power to add the heavy weight of ‘Conscious Influence’ to dramatically tip the scale in our favor. It is capable of overruling all other weight because with enough effort, we can make anything happen.

But using ‘Conscious Influence’ is easier said than done. If we want to act, we need to have sufficient reserves of will-power to get the job done - which often isn’t the case. But more significantly, the main limitation for ‘Conscious Influence’ is it requires our awareness. We can’t intervene if we don’t know it’s happening, and we can’t break a pattern we don’t even know we’re in. 

95%+ of our lives are lived unconsciously, or in other words, without any conscious intervention...

That’s why ‘Unconscious Influence’ is so critical - Most of the time it makes our decision for us. In the absence of the heavy weight of ‘Conscious Influence’, the scale naturally tips toward the side that has more of the light weight ‘Unconscious Influence’.

This is exactly why environmental design is so important. You can make changes to your life, systems, context, relationships, and everything to change where all that weight goes. Things like accountability, scheduling, action planning, affirmations, and other things can offset the weight of our natural predispositions. 

When you add enough weight of ‘Unconscious Influence’ into the ‘Take Action’’ bucket, it may be enough to completely tip the scale in that direction. And if it’s not enough, it’s still meaningful because now it requires less will-power, effort, and ‘Conscious Influence’ to finish the job. This makes the desired action much more likely to happen, and the life we envision for ourselves much more possible.

Curious to hear your thoughts on that framework! :)