Pumpkin Spice Latte - Spin Sucks

TL;DR

In yoga, every movement is intentional and connected, and that mindset offers powerful guidance for how marketers and communicators should operate.
Working with intention means aligning every effort to strategy, instead of reacting with disconnected tactics.
Communications without intention create confusion; communication with intention builds trust, clarity, and momentum.
The PESO Model® helps teams move with purpose and serves as a marketing operating system designed to help you prioritize intention and strategy.
Intention transforms your work from a checklist of content into a system that supports leadership, alignment, and results.
Sustainable results don’t come from doing more; they come from doing the right things, on purpose, and sticking with them.

Intentional Communications and Yoga

“Okay, team, let’s operate with intention.” A phrase uttered in boardrooms and marketing meetings across the globe. It’s a cliché that seems to resurface more frequently than the famed Pumpkin Spice Latte or the McRib.

I’m guilty, too. I talk a lot about the importance of integration, working with intention, and aligning everything we do to a clear outcome, a shared strategy, and a common purpose. But recently, those ideas became a lot more personal.

Over the past several years, I’ve been working through a long recovery. That journey has taught me a lot about resilience, slowing down, and the power of doing things with purpose.

And it all came together through something that had been in my life the whole time: yoga.

My Back Story (Literally)

Years ago, my back pain started. Not the kind you can walk off with a weekend stretch or a hot pack. The kind that sidelines you, mentally and physically, for years. I just didn’t know it at the time.

Over the next few years, I tried everything. Orthopedic visits, steroid injections (more than once), surgeries, physical therapy, chiropractic work, personal training, and stretching specialists.

You name it, chances are I’ve tried it. Some things helped, some didn’t. For a while, I was doing a lot just to function to do the simple things in life, like being able to pick up my son.

Somewhere along the journey, yoga came up often as a recommendation, which honestly wasn’t new to me. My wife is a certified instructor, and friends of mine run a yoga studio in Tampa. I used to be a weekend yoga warrior, but when things got serious with my back, I never really turned to it.

Maybe I was too focused on “fixing” the problem to see how something like yoga could support the recovery, even if it was a recommendation. Yes, I know, I should have listened.

Recently, I came back to it after another recommendation. With help from Peloton and my favorite yoga instructor, Kirra Michel, the results have been far greater than I anticipated. Not because yoga fixed everything, but because it shifted how I approach everything with my back pain.

What struck me most wasn’t the physical practice; it was the mindset. Every movement has intention, and every transition connects to the next. There are no wasted motions and no isolated actions. It’s all connected, and connected on purpose.

And that got me thinking: this is exactly what the PESO Model® is built for.

Why Intention Matters

We’re surrounded by unpredictable moments. Gini Dietrich and I often joke that we need to look into our crystal ball to predict what’s coming next. Sometimes we guess right, and sometimes not.

But in yoga, nothing happens by accident. Even moments of stillness serve a purpose. Breath prepares the body, and movement flows from one position to another, deliberately, in service of something larger.

This idea of intention, of doing things on purpose and for a reason, has reminded me how we should be looking at our work. Not just in concept, but in how we build strategy, lead teams, and communicate.

So many times, we’re quick to get the next tactic out the door. The next blog article, press release, social media post, newsletter blast, or website update. We’re lost in this react, publish, respond, repeat cycle of doom that leads to less than stellar results. We feel busy, but it’s just activity that often leads nowhere.

Working with intention means stepping back and asking, ‘What are we building toward? Why are we doing this? How does this connect to everything else?”

It means moving from tactics to strategy, from noise to clarity, and from scattered efforts to sustainable impact. And that brings us to the real point—how we bring that intention to life.

Communicating With Intention

The more time I spend with Kirra and the Peloton yoga classes, the more I see how it applies to how we communicate.

When we communicate without intention, it becomes obvious. Internally, teams misfire, priorities shift without warning, or one group launches a campaign while another builds a different narrative. Externally, messages blur, attention fades, and trust erodes.

The chances are you recognize the symptoms. Too much noise, not enough clarity, a content calendar filled for the sake of being filled, another press release, another blog post, another meeting to align on why none of it seems to connect.

But when intention drives communication, things start to change. You don’t just hit send on the next tactic; you connect. You don’t just publish content, you align. And you don’t just report on activity, you build momentum that others can feel.

It becomes less about broadcasting and more about building trust. There’s a whole lot less checking boxes and much more about creating clarity. Maybe best of all, you spend less time reacting and more time moving forward as a team.

That’s when your work stops being a series of disjointed outputs and starts becoming an operating system that supports strategy, leadership, and purpose. And that’s where the PESO Model really comes in.

The PESO Model® as a System of Intention

As you’ve heard the Spin Sucks team say many times, the PESO Model isn’t just a checklist of tactics; it’s a marketing operating system built for communicators and marketers who want to move with purpose. That means every channel and every effort is intentionally aligned to reinforce strategy, not scatter it.

It’s how marketing and communications teams shift from reactive mode to a strategic flow, just like with yoga. When used correctly, each media type doesn’t just coexist; it supports and amplifies the others:

Owned media becomes the foundation. You create content that reflects your expertise, answers key questions, and builds long-term authority.
Earned media builds on that foundation, extending credibility and reach through trusted third parties.
Shared media takes what’s already working and makes it discoverable, social, and community-driven.
Paid media accelerates your best content, fueling visibility, reach, and precision targeting.

Everything is connected, and—here’s the important part—everything is connected on purpose.

Let’s say you’re launching a new product. A typical, unintegrated rollout might involve a blog post from one team, a press release from another, some organic social content, and a separate paid campaign. Each team moves fast, but separately and without alignment.

Now imagine approaching that same launch with intention, through the PESO Model. You start with a series of owned content pieces built around what your audience is searching for and discussing. Your earned media team uses those pieces to pitch contributed articles and secure coverage with backlinks.

You then take that earned media and feed it into your shared media channels, amplifying it through curated posts, influencer engagement, or even employee advocates. Then, you identify what’s performing best and use paid media to amplify those stories to the right people, at the right time.

One effort, four media types, and one clear, intentional flow of content and connection.

Recovery, Resilience, and Results

My return to yoga hasn’t been a magic solution. In fact, it’s just one of many things I’m doing as part of this journey.

I still have tough days, and most mornings remind me that recovery isn’t a straight line. But the difference now is in how I approach those moments, and how I think about what progress really looks like. I’m trusting the process, willing to adjust, focused on what’s working for me in that moment, and looking for that progress over perfection.

That shift doesn’t come from trying everything; it comes from doing the right things with intention, and sticking with them long enough to see results.

And that’s exactly what the PESO Model offers to marketing and communications teams.

It’s not a magic solution either. It won’t instantly fix disconnected workflows, unclear goals, or scattered content. But it will give you a path forward, and an operating system that helps you stop chasing shiny objects and start creating sustained, measurable results for your team and your brand.

Like any meaningful practice, whether yoga or integrated communications, it takes commitment to the process. It demands that you show up, reflect, and be willing to course-correct where necessary. It also invites you to stop reacting and start leading, even if it’s your individual journey.

The reward is a stronger, more aligned organization, a team that knows where it’s going, work that’s not just seen, but felt, and results that don’t disappear at the end of a campaign cycle.

Moving With Intention and Finding Your Flow

Part of what I love about yoga is that flow isn’t just about movement, it’s about connection. Each breath, each pose, each transition supports the next. Nothing stands alone, and nothing is wasted. It all builds to support the larger practice.

The same is true for the way we work.

You don’t always need more content, or another campaign, or a better tool. You need more connection between these efforts, alignment, and a system that is grounded with intention. That’s what the PESO Model offers when you stop treating it like a checklist and start using it like the operating system it was designed to be.

Because when everything is connected on purpose, you move with more clarity, your team operates with more confidence, and your work delivers more meaningful results.

So if you’re tired of chasing the next tactic or trying to force alignment after the fact, here’s the shift: Start with intention, build with integration, and lead with purpose.

Everything else flows from there.