MM228 - The Road to Hell

The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Intentions, in and of themselves are not bad. However, intentions are not substitutes for actions for work. Beware of allowing others to substitute work or actions for good intentions.

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*Alex*

Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.

*Professor Paul*

Hello, welcome back to Morning Mindset podcast. Yes, I am your host Paul Markel, and if you read this if you read the I'm sorry, if you read it the title of today's episode. You probably filled in the blank yourself. How many times have you heard? Someone say or you said yourself? The road to hell is paved with good intentions or hell is full of good intentions. Now who said that according to the internet it was st. Bernard of Clairvaux who said, "Hell is paved with good intentions".

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For according to the internet some people believe that John Ray said that cited a proverb in 1670 and said hell is paved with good intentions or you could go back to the Bible or you go to Proverbs or songs or what have you and there is some form or phrasing of that essentially saying that the road to hell or the way to hell or the path. The hill is good intentions. Let's talk about intentions today intentions in and of themselves are not necessarily bad, you know, we come up with an idea or we realize that there's a problem, there's an issue in our lives or something that needs to be fixed or changed or repaired.

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Or maybe there's a better way of doing something and so we think about that. We realize that we say I'm going to make a change we say to ourselves our spouses our bosses or family members. What have you let's make a change. Let's do something different or better or what have you we have the intention of doing them and we may even go into great detail about what our intentions are. Intentions are not acts, are they? Our intentions-, excuse me, sip my coffee

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Intentions are not actions, intentions are only words or what's the most popular thing in our culture today feelings and intentions are basically feelings. Well, I feel that this is wrong or I feel that this needs to change or I feel that there's a better way of doing X Y or Z. Okay, great, you feel that way. So what see intentions cost nothing? Intentions are easy intentions are cheap intentions are words and words are cheap. Anyone can say, oh that's a problem, and we really should do something about it.

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Okay, and what well and that's when the rubber hits the road intentions without works. Meaningless intentions without actions are meaningless, you know, if you told your child, let's say you have a child who is in junior high or high school age or what have you and and you're going to work or you're going out or what having you say. Hey before I get back home. I need you to take out the trash and do the dishes or I need you to do whatever you assign your child a task. He said it's not a, you know, most times really not hard but you assign them a task and then you leave expecting that the task will be completed.

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But you come home and you find out you come downstairs you go downstairs and your kid is in front of the video game the Fortnight or the Xbox or the whatever it is, right and you're like hey. Did you did you get that done? You get the trash out? Did you get blank blank? Oh, no, I was going to I was as soon as I finish this game, I was going to do it that now if your child says to you as soon as my plan was my intention was as soon as I get finished with this game. I'll do it. I'll get that done. Do you accept as a parent? Do you accept that as an excuse do you say? Oh, okay. Well, I know you didn't do what you're supposed to do. But according to your own words you intended to do it and that's good enough.

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Do we accept that? I hope not. I'll tell you what if you're if you're a parent out there and you have a child and you're accepting intentions as actions. As the same thing your you're setting yourself up in your kid up for failure. How about work? Let's say you are at work and you are a worker and your supervisor your boss your whatever comes and says, hey, I need you to do this. I need to get this done. We need to get it done by the end of the day because blankety blank blank fill in. Okay, and then add, you know, quarter till five your supervisor comes in find you and they say hey did you did you get that finished? Is it all done?

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They expect that it's going to be because you know, they told you to and then you say "Oh man, I was really going to but then I got busy and I went over here and I saw something else that I needed to do and I just you know, I was I really planning on doing that. I was going to and I was going to do a really good job", and let me tell you what how good that job was going to be, does your boss or supervisor say oh yeah you intended to but you didn't but you intended to well.

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Okay fine. I'll just tell the client. I'll just tell the customer that you intended to finish you intended to do that. But but you didn't so and they'll be satisfied. They'll be like, oh well, let me pay you anyway. Let me pay you for the product that wasn't delivered because you intended to deliver it. Now you're laughing you're out there. You're like, that's no Paul. That's not how that works where I am, and that's not how that works in my home. We don't accept intentions as a substitute for actions or work.

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Then why do we allow other people to do it? When you mean, how often do we allow people to get away with not doing what is right what they should. What they said they were going to do. Just because their intentions were good. Hmm, exactly. Exactly the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It doesn't that phrase doesn't say the road to hell is paved with good actions or good works or a job. Well done. No, it says good intentions, and what does that phraseology mean? It basically means that words are cheap. Anybody can say anything.

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It's actually the sweat of your brow. It's the labor of your back that makes something happen. That means a something so stop allowing people to get away with good intentions. Intentions are not works. They're not actions. They're cheap. The feeling's right. Anybody can have them anybody can say him anybody can say anything. It takes a man or a woman a stand-up person a mature person to actually do it to get the job done. So don't don't accept it from yourself and don't accept it from others.

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As I said, intentions in and of themselves are not bad the problem we encounter is it when people think that just by saying something it's the same or the equivalent. I'm getting the job done and it's not it's not at all. All right, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much for joining me today. I truly appreciate it share this podcast with somebody that you feel could benefit from it. Leave us a review if you'd like. I would appreciate that. I am your host Paul Markel and I will talk to you again real soon.

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*Alex*

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