The seductive space between intention and action

We hear it all the time: “Mindset is everything.”

And yet, when things aren’t working the way we hoped, it’s rarely the first place we look.
We look outward.

At timing. Tools. Algorithms. Budgets. Other people.

All valid pieces of the puzzle, but maybe not the whole story.

Because sometimes, it’s not a lack of knowledge or opportunity or talent that holds us back.

It’s how we think. The lens we’re looking through. The persistent stories playing in the background.

So why don’t we like to admit that?

Why is it hard to name our own mindset as part of the reason we’re stuck?

Here are a few ideas—some from experience, some from observation, all very human:

1.

If it’s mindset, it means it’s on us.

And that can feel heavy.

Because if the thing holding us back is internal, not external, then suddenly we’re responsible for shifting it.

And if we try—and it doesn’t work—it can feel deeply personal.

So instead, we stay in the grey area:

“Maybe it’s just not the right time.”

“Maybe I need to learn more first.”

That space feels safer. Less confronting.

It holds the possibility that things could go well… without the risk of proving otherwise.

2.

The space between intention and action really is seductive.

Steven Bartlett once referenced a book that explores this idea:

The gap between saying you’re going to do something and actually doing it is a kind of sweet spot.

People cheer you on.

You feel inspired, clear, full of potential.

But nothing’s been tested yet.

That space feels good. Sometimes, it’s easier to stay there than step into the discomfort of actually doing the thing.

3.

We’re not always taught how to change our mindset.

It’s easy to say “just think differently.”

But most of our beliefs and patterns were shaped over years—by the people around us, the environments we grew up in, our experiences.

And those thought loops can be surprisingly persistent.

It may not be that we’re unwilling, it’s that we haven’t been shown how.

So what do we do with all this?

Grab a coffee and settle in for part 2.