How To Be Intentional and Finish What You Start with Chris Bailey

The One You Feed | Personal Growth, Emotional Resilience & Purpose

Eric Zimmer, The One You Feed

Buddhism, Mental Health, Education, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Religion & Spirituality

4.5 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2026

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Chris Bailey discusses how to be intentional and finish what you start. He explores how intentionality, values, and motivation shape our ability to set and achieve meaningful goals. Chris also introduces concepts like the “intention stack” and “sepia-toned goals,” emphasizing the importance of aligning actions with core values. The conversation offers practical tools for editing goals, balancing planning with action, and cultivating both deliberate and default intentions to create a more purposeful, fulfilling life. Take our quick 2-minute survey and help us improve your listening experience: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠oneyoufeed.net/survey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Exciting News!!! Coming in March, 2026, my new book, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠How a Little Becomes a Lot: The Art of Small Changes for a More Meaningful Life is now available for pre-orders!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Key Takeaways: Importance of intentionality in achieving goals Challenges of goal-setting and the concept of "sepia toned goals" The "intention stack" framework connecting daily actions to broader values Understanding and identifying personal values and their polarities The role of desire and aversion in goal pursuit The concept of "goal editing" to align goals with personal values Distinction between outcome goals and process goals The significance of the learning phase in goal attainment Balancing planning and action to avoid productivity traps Cultivating a positive relationship with goals to enhance motivation and fulfillment For full show notes: click here! If you enjoyed this conversation with Chris Bailey, check out these other episodes: How to Break Free from the ‘More’ Trap and Find Balance in a Busy Life with Chris Bailey Chris Bailey on Focus, Productivity, and Meditation (2018) Getting Things Done with Charlie Gilkey David Kadavy on Getting Started By purchasing products and/or services from our sponsors, you are helping to support The One You Feed and we greatly appreciate it. Thank you! This episode is sponsored by: Shopify – The commerce platform that helps you build, grow, and manage your business all in one place. Start your $1/month trial at shopify.com/feed. Pebl – an AI-powered platform that helps companies hire and manage global teams in 185+ countries. Get a free estimate at hipebl.ai Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You may have heard me mention my new book a few times, and I can assure you you will certainly
0:04.6	hear it a few more, but now we are offering some pre-order bonuses. One of them is the still-point
0:10.9	method, which I believe is the only systematic way to interrupt negative thought patterns
0:16.2	often enough for them to change. There's a lot out there about what you should think and not think,
0:22.5	but there's very little that gives you a small and portable system to actually do it. You get the
0:28.7	guide to the method and three free months of a new app designed to help you implement it. There are
0:34.7	other bonuses too. You can learn more and claim them at one you feed.net
0:39.9	slash book. There's this kind of vicious cycle we fall into where the goal, which is really
0:46.0	prediction, turns into an expectation, which because we're so bad at predicting the future,
0:50.8	turns into disappointment, then we set more goals. This is a cycle that we need to
0:55.1	break out of. But there's usually a way to edit the goals that we have so that they're more in
1:01.2	line with the values that we have. Welcome to the one you feed.
1:12.6	Throughout time, great thinkers have recognized the importance of the thoughts we have.
1:17.6	Quotes like, garbage in, garbage out, or you are what you think, ring true.
1:22.6	And yet, for many of us, our thoughts don't strengthen or empower us. We tend toward negativity,
1:29.4	self-pity, jealousy, or fear. We see what we don't have instead of what we do. We think things
1:35.8	that hold us back and dampen our spirit. But it's not just about thinking. Our actions matter.
1:41.7	It takes conscious, consistent, and creative effort to make a life
1:45.6	worth living. This podcast is about how other people keep themselves moving in the right
1:50.4	direction, how they feed their good wolf. Chris Bailey's been a guest on this show a number
1:58.6	of times. He's a delightful person to talk to, and every time
2:02.6	we talk, I end up with at least one idea that I keep thinking about. And this time, it was his phrase,
	...

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