Chuck Blakeman

I’ve truncated John’s working definition over the years to my own, which is still his, but slightly shorter: Conation – the will to succeed that manifests itself in single-minded pursuit of a goal.

For a very long time now psychologists have identified what they call the Three Aspects of the Mind: Cognition – the ability to think. Affection – the ability to feel. And this funny, obscure word – Conation – the will and ability to do. There’s very little work done on conation. Kathy Kolbe, has been the bright shining light on conation and has kept us from losing this most valuable word.

I find it fascinating that almost everyone I know has a good handle on what cognition and affection are, but virtually no one I know has any idea what the third aspect of the mind is – conation. The most important of the three words, the one that creates action as well as results, is nearly unknown. Why?

Our educational system has promoted thinking and feeling almost to the exclusion of doing. We are all taught that if we just get enough information into our heads and feel good about it, that we’ll eventually do something about it. I believe the reason this valuable word hasn’t gotten much attention is because we’ve all bought into that idea that we think our way to a new way of acting. We see cognition – thinking – as the all important fundamental on which the other two swing. And of course we all like to feel stuff. So affection gets plenty of attention, too.

But we do not think our way to a new way of acting. We act our way to a new way of thinking.

Even Einstein supported this when he said, “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

Want to grow a Mature Business? Add “conate” to your daily verb count. The will to succeed that manifests itself in single-minded pursuit of a goal. Clarity – I know my goal. Hope – the will to succeed, that comes from knowing my goal. Risk – singleminded pursuit – I’m actually doing it. That’s conation.