Intentional: How to Finish What You Start

by Chris Bailey

From Chris Bailey, productivity expert and author of How to Calm Your Mind, comes a new approach to finishing what you start.

Setting goals is easy. Finishing them is the challenge.

In Intentional, productivity expert Chris Bailey reveals the surprising willpower isn’t enough. The secret to accomplishing your goals lies in being more intentional. Bailey distills a decade of deep research on productivity to deliver a profound, practical, and counterintuitive roadmap to getting things done. Forget endless to-do lists and a never-ending workload. To reach your goals, you have to 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 empowers us to build a life of true purpose and accomplishment. He offers practical strategies for following through on our goals, including how

Structure goals for maximum completionMake unappealing, boring, or challenging tasks more attractive to tackleLower the chance of procrastinating on long-term goalsCreate a framework for tracking intentions and progressKnow when a goal isn’t for you—and when it’s time to let it go
Finishing what you start is more possible than you think.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Business, Productivity, Psychology

263 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 6, 2026

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know about you but I plan and have huge ideas on what I’d like to accomplish but the execution doesn’t always happen 🙈

This book laid out clear ways to create goals that align with our values, how to track goals and how to keep our goals relevant and up to date as life changes. There were gentle reminders that goals are not always linear and often bounce around steps so keep your eye on the larger picture as well as all the details.

I found I walked away with lots of suggestions and ways to follow through on my intentions! This book is perfect for the new year and creating attainable goals.

Thank you to Random House Canada for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Steve Brock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have selected this book as Stevo's Business Book of the Week for the week of 1/6, as it stands heads above other recently published books on this topic.