10/03/2026
The Evidence of Action
Look at the two punching bags.
On the left, the bag is almost perfect.
Above it are the words: I’m going to.
It represents intention. The plans we make, the promises we make to ourselves, the goals we announce.
On the right is the same kind of bag, but it is torn, bruised and worn out.
Above it are two simple words:
I did. That is the difference between intention and action.
There is nothing wrong with saying, I’m going to start.
The problem begins when I’m going to becomes a permanent substitute for I started.
Because intention is incredibly comfortable.
You can imagine yourself becoming disciplined without waking up early.
You can imagine becoming fit without doing the workout.
You can imagine building the business without making the uncomfortable calls.
You can imagine writing the book without writing the first page.
In your imagination, everything is still clean.
There are no failed attempts. No embarrassing mistakes. No rejection. No exh.austion.
But real progress leaves marks.
The punching bag on the right is ugly because it has been used.
And that is something we sometimes misunderstand about achievement.
We look at someone’s finished result and think the evidence of success is how polished it looks.
Often, the deeper evidence is the damage.
The missed attempts.
The bad first drafts.
The rejected applications.
The failed businesses.
The early mornings.
The days they didn’t feel motivated but showed up anyway.
The scars are proof that the intention became physical.
Think about two people who both say they want to learn a skill.
One spends six months watching videos about learning it.
The other spends six months struggling to actually do it.
At the end, the second person may have plenty of mistakes to show you.
But those mistakes are evidence.
They have something the first person doesn’t:
experience.
This is why action is so powerful.
Action gives reality a chance to answer you.
You don’t know whether an idea works until you test it.
You don’t know whether you’re capable until you attempt something difficult.
You don’t know what you need to improve until you make mistakes.
Intention lives in your head.
Evidence lives in the world.
And eventually, your life becomes less about what you intended to do and more about what you can point to.
Not … I was going to write. But …… I wrote.
Not …. I was going to start. But …. I started.
Not ….. I was going to change.
But … Look at what I became.
So don’t worry too much about making your intentions sound impressive.
Make them visible.
Let your goals get a little messy.
Let your first attempt be terrible.
Let your progress leave scratches on the surface.
Because a perfect punching bag tells us you planned to fight.
A battered one tells us you actually stepped into the ring.
Intentions sound good.
Evidence looks better.
