Being Intentional

A key theme from some of my posts over the past few weeks has been the idea of intentionality. Being intentional with what we're doing, whether it is forming teams or eating.
From my post Co-Located vs. Remote/Distributed Teams: What Works and Why:

When managed correctly, distributed teams perform just as well as their co-located counterparts. But therein lies the rub: you can’t simply put any team together and hope for success.
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With intentional leadership and design, we can create high performing distributed teams. As we’ve seen from the research and the examples above, the limiting factors to remote work are often in the effort put in rather than inherent in the nature of the team.

The key to creating a good team, whether it is a remote team or a co-located team, is being intentional. Sometimes good teams can simply happen without much effort, but that is likely the exception, not the rule. So being intentional in the creation and leadership of a team, especially when it is distributed in some way, is going to be a key to success.

The same can be said when it comes to losing weight. While this isn't my normal writing vein, it is another helpful illustration of the point. To be successful at losing weight, you have be very intentional, especially with your eating. At least that is what I discovered for myself. While I would love to be able to exercise my way to fitness, that turned out to be impossible. From my post about weight loss: 

I used to believe that exercise was the most important key to fitness. With that mindset, I used to exercise frequently with little regard to what I ate. When that didn’t work, I continued to increase my level of exercise more and more, spinning my wheels endlessly. At the same time I was spinning, my wife was taking the opposite approach. She didn’t have a massive exercise regimen like I did, but focused on eating right, both in quantity and quality. And she managed to lose weight and look great. This was especially pronounced after she gave birth to our kids. She was able to rapidly return to her pre-pregnancy weight while I struggled to do anything.
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When I switched to a similar mindset, I was actually able to make massive progress.

Life, in general, requires a degree of intentionality. While we may have some success for a time without being intentional about our direction, I don't think that will be long-lived. We'll find much more success, and much more joy in life, by being intentional about our decisions. 

What does that mean?

• Be intentional about the work you choose to do. Take on the projects that not only further your career but that are interesting and fulfilling.
• Be intentional about the time you spend with the people you love. Set the phone down. Pay attention. Be present and engaged.
• Be intentional about how you spend your time. Stop saying yes to things only out of a sense of obligation. Your time is incredibly limited. Use it wisely.
• Be intentional what types of things you consume. That goes for food, entertainment, media, etc. Feed your mind and body with what you need. Don't let yourself get filled passively with whatever comes the easiest.

I'll be exploring this topic more in some other posts and in weeks to come. If you have thoughts or ideas, let me know.

Best of the Rest

Additional Links of Interest:

• ​​Five Lessons From History - Almost too many good points to summarize, so go check out this article. Really an enjoyable read.
• Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World (Podcast) - Looking forward to reading this book, but a great interview about why being a generalist isn't a bad thing at all.
• A Song of Ice and Fire - Facts don't care about your feelings. And facts don't care about your theories.

Favorite Books from The Month:
It was an awesome month for reading. I'd recommend a bunch of books, but trying to keep it to a manageable list, here it goes:

• The Innovators - A great read about all the innovators who helped shape modern technology. 
• ​Deep Work - I'll be writing more about deep work soon, but I'm a big fan of the concept and this is a must read book for anyone interested in the idea that you have to actually focus for extended periods of time to get real work done.
• Algorithms to Live By - A fascinating read about computer algorithms and how you can apply them to your life.