I was in Knoxville Monday to meet with a new client about several exciting projects with which she’s involved. She had driven up from Atlanta (I had driven down from Cincinnati to meet her halfway – tip: as Dan Kennedy related in his weekly fax several weeks ago, it still gets down to face-to-face; are you doing enough of it?) and we spent almost 5 hours reviewing and discussing her projects.

Enough backstory.

During our meeting she related that Napolean Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” was one of the most important books she had ever read (and still continues to read – she even had CD’s in her car about Hill’s subject). She’s the first client I’ve met that had actually studied Hill’s principals (many of my clients get engaged with his stuff after we begin to work together and I give them a list of my top 10 books).

On the drive home it got me to thinking…just how intentional am I in my life, not just my business, but all areas? If you’re familiar at all with Hill’s book (tip: get a copy and read it if you’ve not already), you know that he lays out 17 principals that are, for the most part, common to all successful people.

You see, all of us are intentional in how we approach the various parts of our lives. It’s just a matter of what we’re intentional about. I know many people who are what I call “intentionally unintentional.” They just cruise, even in today’s economy. Julia Roberts said it best in “Pretty Woman…’Mistake, big mistake…huge’.”

I can’t afford to be unintentional about anything in my life. Am I 100% on that? No way. But I am conscious (most of the time) about it. It’s when I lose focus that things don’t work out the best.

I gotta tell you, for me it’s not easy to have increased focus, intentionality if you will. Takes more discipline, hard work, staying on top of things, etc.

Regarding my business, I know it’s more difficult and more expensive to acquire a new client today. And our existing clients expect more than they did a year ago.

For prospects intentionality says that I get more creative about how I attract new clients, stay in regular contact with them, do more, etc.

For existing clients intentionality says I figure out ways to deliver more value (example: just this past month we started sending all of our active and inactive clients weekly non-business content and give them access to a monthly teleseminar… a $399/month value, but with no additional investment required on their part).

In our monthly reporting to clients we’ve added some additional items that can give them a clearer picture of what we’re doing for them.

This intentionality carries over into other areas of my life as well.

Part of that revolves around how I use my time, and with whom. In some areas I’ve changed who I associate with from a year ago. It’s hard for me to be around people who don’t share the same increased focus.

Anyway, what about you? Have you taken some time to think about this, and even written down some things you need to work on? As Ed Cole says, “You’re never too young…and you’re never too old.” Bottom line: it’s never too late.