Why your intention matters more than your actual results.

“It’s the thought that counts!” This terrible excuse (usually for failing at something) may have more truth in it than it seems.

Recall, this is a similar concept on premises and book summaries that states that the “why” matters more than the “what.” For example:
The ‘what’ is – “He’s successful.”
The ‘why’ is – “Because he’s a great father and husband.”

But that “why” may be awful to you if he was trying to give you advice on making a pile of cash.

There’s a gas station own that updated his price to be $2.986 – 6/10ths, instead of the typical 9/10ths that 99% of stations use for their price. If his intention is to update your pricing and he screwed up and intended for it to be 9/10ths, then he’s just an absent minded mistake prone business owner. However, if he intended to make it 6/10ths to get people to talk about it and stand out from the crowd, now he’s a genius marketer.

The “what” is – Gas is $2.986
The “why” is – He made a mistake. Which leads to, “He’s a moron!”
or
The “why” is – He was executing a brilliant marketing tactic. Which leads to, “He’s a genius!”

The resultant reality of “the price is X” is the same regardless of the intention, but the intention is what matters most to people. While “intention” is important and creates a foundation for something to be repeated, we need to see the reality of things as well.

If intention is more important than reality for people, and intention is a mental construct, you can start to see where “reality” can be easily manipulated for many people.