# Intent

- date: 2026-10-13
- canonical: https://jaymin.com/posts/systems-and-intent
- journal scans:
  - scan 01: https://jaymin.com/journal/2026-10-13-systems-and-intent.jpg

Systems cannot hold up if they lack intent. Life is built from patterns, habits, and routines. To influence these patterns, habits, and routines one creates "systems." Systems creation, however, can itself become a habit or routine. Thus any given system that is created is subsequently replaced before any results.

A solution to this is intent. A system is relaxing. It is comforting to not face the truth of undesired behavior and inventing a hypothetical change in the form of a system allows avoidance to continue. To truly make any system successful, it must be preceded by intent. "I want to go to the gym 3x per week" has no intent. "I want to be capable of skiing for 15min uninterrupted" does carry intent. Defining the end state brings a reason for the system to exist. And the most successful systems are those which are as small as possible while still reaching the intent. The narrower the intent and the smaller the system, the greater the success.