Intentional: How to Finish What You Start

"A powerful guide to turning ambition into action--by focusing not on willpower but on what matters most."--Charles Duhigg, author of Supercommunicators and The Power of Habit

Setting goals is easy. Following through on them? A whole lot harder.

It turns out, the secret to finishing what you start isn't sheer willpower or the latest productivity hack. It's becoming more intentional.

With Intentional, bestselling author Chris Bailey distills a decade of deep research on productivity to deliver a profound, practical, and counterintuitive road map to getting things done. Forget extensive to-do lists and a never-ending workload. To reach your goals, you must structure your daily actions around what's most important to you--and let go of the rest. This way, getting things done becomes second nature.

Integrating the science of desire, values, and procrastination with the wisdom of Buddhist monks, Bailey lays out step-by-step strategies for intentional accomplishment, covering how to:

- Structure short-term goals to increase the likelihood of completion
- Make unappealing, boring, or frustrating tasks more attractive
- Lower the chance of procrastinating on long-term goals
- Create a system for tracking progres
- Know when a goal isn't for you--and when it's time to let it go

What matters most to you? Intentional shows that the answer has the power to unlock not just greater productivity but a deeper and more satisfying sense of accomplishment.

Author: Chris Bailey
Publisher: Penguin Life
Published: 01/06/2026
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.30w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780593833056

About the Author
Chris Bailey is an author and lecturer who explores the science behind living a more productive and intentional life. He has written hundreds of articles on the subject and has garnered coverage in media as diverse as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, GQ, HuffPost, New York magazine, Harvard Business Review, TED, Fast Company, and Lifehacker. He is the bestselling author of The Productivity Project, Hyperfocus, and How to Calm Your Mind, and his books have been published in forty-two languages. He lives in Ottawa, Canada.