NextMeta MetaView #30 - The Power of Intent w/ Malcolm Ocean
Malcolm & Intentions
In this episode of the MetaView Podcast, we welcome Malcolm Ocean; a goal-setter, developer & a solopreneur who’s been building Intend for the better half of a decade.
Reflecting on his own experience of realizing the power of setting intentions & pursuing values-aligned projects, Malcolm shares his journey of exploring intentionality & his motivation behind starting Intend and how it helps people gain clarity & realize their goals.
His overall idea is that motivation is not something that needs to be forced but simply recognized & channeled, highlighting the importance of understanding what blocks or inhibits motivation.
Why Intend
He primarily built Intend for himself & his friends whom he was helping with goal-setting, but the thing quickly took off to become his primary source of income.
Malcom also explores the differences between Intend, habit-tracking, and to-do apps, noting how Intend focuses on long term goals & fresh daily intentions rather than backlogged tasks or recurring habits. Qualitative reflections instead of metrics.
Like most guests of MetaView, Malcolm emphasizes the importance of playing win-win games & creating collaborative cultures to maximize positive outcomes for everyone involved.
Win-win Games & Self-energizing Teams
Malcolm’s interest stretch far beyond Intend and into team dynamics, consciousness & culture. By showing people how to play better games, he believes that a shift towards collaborative cultures can lead to a more fulfilling and harmonious society.
They go on to explore the idea of self-energizing teams, where individuals find collaborations that align with their own goals & where the motivation becomes effortless.
Highlighting the importance of accountability & the role of financial stakes, the episode concludes with a reflection on the role of clearly set goals & the misconception that monetary incentives are the primary driver of motivation.
"The moment you think you might want to get yourself to do something, you already have motivation to do it. Instead, focus on how to allow yourself to do it."
Some of the topics
Power of intentions
Choosing goals & the importance of deciding what not to do
Recognizing and channeling motivation
Fractal reviews and the satisfaction of tracking progress
Leveraging strengths & collaborations
Self-energizing meta teams & effortless motivation
The role of stakes in goal commitment
The role of money in motivation
Resources:
The Goal-Crafting Intensive - workshop, starting soon
A Collaborative Self-Energizing Meta-Team Vision (+two related vision pieces 1, 2)
Robert Keegan's book "An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization"
Beeminder, StrongLifts, Runkeeper & Notion - apps mentioned