Intention Setting to Reach Your Goals
I sincerely hope this year brings you fulfillment and happiness.
The other day I was marveling that we're now past the year that my youngest son graduated high school. I remember thinking that 2023 sounded impossibly far off. Oh, how time flies.
I had so many ideas on what I wanted to share in this first blod post of the new year: protein intake for midlife women, ins and outs of Intermittent fasting, how our words impact our health, but I'll save those for another time.
For now, and since it's the new year and many of us are focuesd on bringing in the new and our health, I'll come back to a question I think it worth repeating.
It's this:
How do you want to FEEL in 2024?
Rather than chasing a goal, what if you decide to chase the feeling you want to help you attain that goal!?
When you understand how you want to feel, your external goals can shift into a more comfortable place in your psyche, and you will likely feel much more integrated. The pursuit itself becomes much more satisfying.
Here's a breakdown of how this works. Be sure to get out a notebook and pen to write it down.
Pursue feelings instead of goals:
What do you want more than anything—absolutely YES, YES, YES—when it comes to your health and wellness?
What are you going to stop doing in order to feel the way you want to feel?
What’s it going to take to make your current dream come true?
How do you want to be supported, right now, today?
Key questions to explore:
In the area of health and wellness (fitness, food, rest & relaxation, healing, mental health, sensuality, movement), what am I grateful for? What’s not working?
What are my deepest desired feelings?
To generate my core desired feelings, what do I want to do, experience, or have?
Set intentions from this place:
The definition of “intention” is:
“Having a mind focused on a specific purpose.” Intentions come from within us. Clarifying one’s intention provides the motivation and energy to create the goals to your desired destination. This will be a reflection of the outcome that you really want for yourself, as well as being your North Star that directs you to where you want to go.
AN INTENTION IS ANYTHING YOU WANT TO FEEL, BE, EXPERIENCE, HAVE OR CREATE.
When you are in the process of this, try on one the following sample sentences to start off.
My intention is to:
Feel (connected, fulfilled, satisfied, free, empowered, easeful…)
Have (a balanced life…)
Experience…
Be…
Create…
Keep it as simple as possible. Try not to make it huge or overly detailed and focus on tuning into what you really want—at the core of your being! Answer this question: “If I can create what I want in my life, what will it be?” Try closing your eyes and visualizing yourself successful creating something in our life.
Explore and express your hopes here—be brave and go deep.
What three or four intentions and goals will I focus on these next 4-8 weeks?
What will I do this week to generate my desired feelings and fulfill my goals?
Take a few minutes (or days!) to decide what you’d most like to feel within your unique health & wellness (this could be any area of your life such as relationships, career, spirituality, etc.)—i.e., brilliant, vibrant, strong, healthy, healed, elegant, energized, liberated, nourished, open, feminine, powerful, rested, renewed, serene, vital, vivacious, etc.
Choose 2 – 4 words that best evoke your intended emotional state and write about them.
THIS IS WHERE GOAL SETTING KICKS IN...
With your desired feelings & intention set as the desired destination, your goals are the “how to get to your destination,” or the “what to do” to fulfill your core desired feelings.
For example, if your intention is to be healthy, fit and full of energy, your goal might be to design and implement an exercise program in which you exercise 3x/wk, lose 20 lbs, and take a 3 mile walk 4 months from now.
Please take time now to write down 3 goals for week 1, 2, 3, etc. as you go along.
“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.” —Bruce Lee
To REACH your goals it’s important to make sure they are SMART. Go through each letter and make sure this is attainable for you:
S - Specific, significant, stretching
M - Measurable, meaningful, motivational
A - Agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented
R - Realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented
T - Time-based, timely, tangible, trackable
Establish criteria to measure progress. How will you know when the goal is achieved? Write that down!
So there you go…a blueprint to making the positive change you’d like to have this month, week, year.
I’d love to hear from you. Have you tried any of these techniques? Have they worked for you?
Here’s to a beautiful, enriching, empowering New Year!
*I’ve adapted the work by Danielle Laporte’s from her book, Desire Map, for this blog post. If you haven’t read her book, please do! It’s extraordinary and inspiring.