As we approach 2024, depending on what your beliefs are, you will be having different feelings. Most people tend to be super excited, because they feel like they’ve got a brand new opportunity to “reset their lives”. What used to happen though, as the month of January progressed, is that most of these excited individuals would start getting flakey on their plans and programmes, procrastinate, fall off the wagon, and ultimately stop all together.
Sound familiar?
Yes - it happens to many of us - you are not alone! I’ve heard the same story from friends, family, clients, myself…we ALL go through it. Some have even gotten to the point where they no longer set goals/resolutions because “they know they will fail anyway so what’s the point?”
There are some others who are SO flat that they literally feel lost. I have a client who has worked so hard on achieving their previous goal, so now that she’s achieved it, she has nowhere to go and nothing to look forward to. Her life has become so routine that she no longer has the space to get creative. This can be a dangerous downward spiral that stops us from succeeding and continuously growing. It is this that gets us to the place where we feel flat when we approach this time of the year, or by the end of January.
OK - so at this point, you’ll have established which camp you’re in. But now what?
Let’s start by talking about what intentions are, and then I will share with you steps to set intentions to make them more exciting and enticing.
An intention is “something that you plan and want to do” (Cambridge dictionary).
I’m being specific when I use the word Intention rather than vision / resolution, because visions / resolutions sometimes can cause limitations, because you tend to focus only on completing the tasks at hand, rather than creating your life moment by moment.
Setting intentions enables you to have the FREEDOM TO CHOOSE AND CREATE because you are not stuck in “task” mode.
Let’s face it - we all know that plans, feelings, and needs change, because WE CHANGE. The person you enter the 1st day of the month as will be different to the person coming out at the end of the month. That means, whatever you set as a vision / resolution between Dec 2023/Jan 2024 may already have changed by the end of the month. Many people fall over at this point because they don’t know how to handle the changes or what to do with themselves once they’ve outgrown their original vision/resolution/goals, and it takes them a while to find a new direction.
Or they become so hung up on “I must achieve xyz by Dec 2024 because it’s on my vision board” that they start having a sense of panic, fear, failure, or unworthiness when their progress is different to how they imagined it.
Intentions allow you to come from a different place.
Intentions are simply plans and what you want to do, so it enables you to release the need to achieve. Now I’m not saying that you just stop doing anything - that’s apathy. What I’m saying is, when you set the right intentions for yourself, you can enable flexibility in your life, to fulfil it in any way that you like. Instead of needing to know the path from A-Z to fulfil your dreams, you can create daily by thinking how to get from A-B, then B-C, then C-D, and so on. Once you understand what your true intentions are, your micro-tasks (i.e. A-B, B-C) become obvious. You also get to live in the fun of creative thinking continuously, moment to moment.
When you understand that intentions allow you to look at the world from a different angle, and that you can approach your way of life in alternative ways, you then can start getting creative - that’s where the fun begins 🤩
In order to set intentions in the most fun way, here are the steps you can take:
Ask yourself “What do I intend to achieve in 2024?” Keep this basic - a simple list would do. This part is important as it gets everything out of your head onto paper (e.g. I intend to generate £20k per month; I intend to heal my gut; I intend to release 5kg)
Review your list and make sure that everything genuinely excites you or you know has a purpose for long term plans. (e.g. healing your gut = healthier body = you’re better prepared for having children / looking after your children / be a better partner / be less grumpy to your friends/family/colleagues)
Note: if you find that your list has turned out as a “to-do list” rather than an exciting yet challenging list, I’d invite you to revisit it.
Remember: i) we’re looking for intentions NOT your to-do list; ii) if you are not challenged/excited by any of the tasks then you will get bored!
Next I want you to visualise - it is now 31st Dec 2024, and most/all of your intentions have been achieved. How do you feel? Which ones were you the most proud of? Which ones were you the most nervous/excited about? Which ones helped you grow the most? Really take time to tap into the feelings of having achieved everything.
Then note down your answers to the questions above.
Now comes the fun part - I want you to DREAM 🤩. Close your eyes and imagine that you are 3 years out - 31st Dec 2026 - what would you have achieved by now? By then most likely you will have achieved your vision for 2024…and more. So what else have you done? Who have you become by this point? I want you to live in that moment and feel all of the emotions that you would be feeling 3 years from now as you run through all the things that have happened over the past 3 years. As you think of each thing, feel the emotions - is it gratitude? Joy? Overwhelm and then relief?
Take your time over this and enjoy the moment.
When you come back to your journal, I want you to compare your visualisation for 31st Dec 2024 vs 31st Dec 2026 - what was the difference? What parts were the most exciting for you? What were the most important to you? Once you’ve completed the comparison, you’ll understand:
i) what things are actually the most important to you / what you want to focus on
ii) what you can actually set as an intention for 2024! We have a tendency to underestimate ourselves based on what we think is possible, but we are actually much more successful/creative than we realise. By seeing yourself 3 years from now, you get to start understanding where your true capabilities lie.
It may be that by the end of 2024, you will only achieve some of your intentions, but you will definitely have a far more fun, creative, and enticing journey ahead if you do it this way, rather than using your traditional way of setting new year goals and resolutions, only to get bored by mid-January! Remember, you can always change it - you always have a choice!
Life is a journey, not a destination - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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