Adding Intentions to your goals or resolutions

As I began my day today by reviewing goal setting strategies and how to better set them up for success I listened to a video about goals where the speaker mentioned the Idea of writing out the intentions for each of your goals. Over the years I have often talked about the small percentage of people that set goals. This speaker brought a perspective that truly made me stop and think. Everyone has goals, resolutions, or dreams. However a very small percentage of people ever accomplish or reach them. The Idea was simple really however the implications on staying focused and determined through whatever roadblocks we encounter as we push towards our destination was astounding.

Resolutions often remind us of our faults and weaknesses while intentions tell us about all of the benefits that reaching the goal or accomplishing the resolution will bring us. Human nature is to give up and justify our failure when we hit a difficult point in our journey. Success always comes when people prepare, take action, stay focused on the destination, and remember why they are trying to get there. Success comes when we apply the discipline, work, and sacrifice necessary to reach the goal. The idea of keeping the intentions around the goal top of mind seems simple yet I wonder how many people do this compared to how many simply keep the goal itself in mind.

For example;
The goal is to buy your own home within two years your intention might be to provide more living space for your family. Invest money into something that you own instead of dumping money into a rental. And enjoy the ability to creatively alter or enhance it without asking someone else.

The goal is to be a better wife this year but your intentions are to strengthen the bond between you and your husband. Show him how special he truly is. Better understand his needs and how you can help him with them. And to invest time on truly understanding what makes him happy then exerting effort into making that a reality for him.

The goal is to make $5,000 more this year and the intention is to pay off debt and then celebrate by taking a long desired vacation. Then you will begin to utilize the extra money to build a family savings and do a monthly family fun day.

What is clear in this is that it is natural and easy to set down the resolution to buy a new house after the second or third time that life throws you a curve and you are struggling to save a down payment or your credit is not good. It is very easy to use the money that you are supposed to be saving to go out to dinner or to take that vacation that you have been daydreaming about. However what is not natural or easy is to stop and focus on why you want the house and what benefits it will bring to you and your family or why you want to save that money. Those are the things that will keep us motivated and encourage us to get back up even after several falls. That will be the fuel that keeps us pushing forward.

This year whether it is your first time writing out your goals or if you are doing an annual update make sure that for each goal or resolution that you make you write down your intentions. Then if you utilize reminders like photos or sticky notes make sure that those reflect your intentions in addition to the primary goal. Remind yourself of all the great things that achieving the goal will bring you and why you are willing to work hard, sacrifice, and to not give up when the going gets tough.

In goal setting we must remember that the basics are what work and that we have a natural tendency to get distracted, frustrated, and to justify not doing the work it takes to get us to our goal. We must understand this and implement strategies that help us to prevent that from happening. Write down the goals, add the intentions, set realistic times, share them, set reminders where you can see them, and review them often.

I hope this year brings each of you happiness, joy, success, and closer to all of your goals and dreams.