When Actions Eclipse Intentions in Meaningful Work
Created at: September 28, 2025
What one does is what counts, not what one had the intention to do. — Pablo Picasso
From Intention to Impact
Picasso’s assertion shifts attention from the private world of motives to the public realm of results. We may cherish our plans, but the world registers what actually takes shape—on canvas, in policy, or in daily conduct. By reframing worth around outcomes, the quote invites a sober appraisal: ideas are beginnings, not endings. This pivot sets the stage for a broader inquiry across art, ethics, psychology, and practice, showing how doing crystallizes value while intention, however sincere, remains invisible until embodied.
Picasso’s Studio: Ideas Made Visible
The painter lived his credo. John Richardson’s A Life of Picasso (1991–2007) documents marathon periods of revision, collage, and reworking that turned rough concepts into disruptive form. Consider the path to Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907): not a sudden epiphany, but dozens of studies and compositional experiments that displaced intention with tangible innovation. In that disciplined grind—charcoal lines, scraped paint, compositional swaps—ideas earned their right to exist. Thus, before any theory about actions and intentions, Picasso’s studio practice offers the first evidence: the stroke counts because it leaves a trace the world can answer.
Ethics: The Weight of Consequences
Philosophy deepens the claim. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (c. 4th century BC) treats virtue as a habit of right action, cultivated by doing until character is formed; goodness must be enacted, not merely desired. Utilitarians like Bentham and Mill judge by consequences, asking what our deeds produce in the lives of others. Kant, by contrast, prizes the good will, locating morality in intention rather than outcome. Yet even deontologists admit that promises matter only when kept. The arc of ethical debate, then, suggests a synthesis: motives orient us, but responsibility materializes in what we perform—where effects meet accountability.
Psychology: Closing the Intention–Behavior Gap
Modern psychology shows why intentions so often stall. Icek Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (1991) explains that attitudes, norms, and perceived control shape whether intentions become actions—good intentions alone predict only modest change. Peter Gollwitzer’s work on implementation intentions (1999) offers a remedy: specific if–then plans (“If it’s 7 a.m., then I write for 30 minutes”) dramatically raise follow-through. Moreover, embedding cues in context reduces reliance on willpower, turning aspiration into reliable habit. Thus, the mind’s own mechanics favor Picasso’s emphasis: translate desire into structured action, or risk watching intentions evaporate.
Innovation: Shipping Beats Dreaming
In product development, execution carries learning. Eric Ries’s The Lean Startup (2011) codifies the build–measure–learn loop, where a minimum viable product invites real feedback that fantasy cannot supply. Prototypes, pilots, and quick releases let teams test hypotheses in the marketplace rather than in meeting rooms. This does not belittle vision; it channels it. By iterating with users, organizations discover value faster and waste less. Consequently, the culture that ships—however imperfectly—outperforms the culture that plans without delivery, because only shipped work can be improved by reality.
Accountability: Results as the True Reference
Organizations often conflate activity with accomplishment. Peter Drucker, in The Effective Executive (1967), underscored that effectiveness is about results, not effort—an alignment that echoes Picasso’s priority. Metrics help, but they must be chosen with care: Goodhart’s Law (1975) warns that when a measure becomes the target, it can corrupt behavior. The wiser course pairs clear outcomes with qualitative judgment, ensuring numbers illuminate rather than distort. In practice, that means reviewing delivered value—customer outcomes, safety records, resolved cases—rather than celebrating intention-laden plans or busyness.
Law and Responsibility: Acts Still Matter
Legal reasoning also foregrounds deeds. Criminal law distinguishes actus reus (the act) from mens rea (the mental state); both are weighed, yet the presence of harm anchors the case. The Model Penal Code (1962) grades culpability—purposeful, knowing, reckless, negligent—clarifying that even benevolent intentions do not erase damaging outcomes, especially under negligence or strict liability. Tort law likewise focuses on the injuries caused. This legal architecture mirrors Picasso’s insight: society must ground judgment in what was done, because consequences are what others must live with.
A Practice of Doing: From Plan to Proof
To honor the maxim, build scaffolds that carry intentions into the world: define a concrete “done” for each goal, schedule it on the calendar, and use implementation intentions to trigger action. Timebox work, ship small increments, and seek rapid feedback to turn outcomes into teachers. Finally, conduct regular after-action reviews that ask not what you meant, but what changed. In this cadence, intentions keep their noble place—as the compass—while actions draw the map others can follow, fulfilling Picasso’s claim that only what we do truly counts.