If you spend any time at all scrolling through Instagram, you’re bound to stumble upon a motivational quote or two. Chances are it will be about new opportunities, chasing dreams, achieving goals…unless you’re one of those people that only looks up dog memes and dad jokes…#nojudgementzone…well, maybe a little ; ). I, personally, am a sucker for Insta-inspiration. Little doses of wisdom that keep me going throughout the day. But what’s even better than taking in someone else’s hard-earned lessons? Earning your own.
With change, comes challenge. With struggle, comes growth. These, my friends, are facts of life. Facts I’ve picked up along the way as I carve the path to my own feel good life. And along my path, I’ve realized that there is something big to know about in achieving a feel good life, and that is that goals are not the same things as intentions…and differentiating them is a big help in achieving success in both.
Goals vs. Intentions
When we think of goals, we tend to think of them as something in the future, something we need to work towards but haven’t attained yet. Goals are the big objectives that drive us through hard times, shitty days and boring adult to-do lists we’d rather ignore but can’t if we really want to achieve said goal. Goal-setting is important. It helps us identify what we want and provides the framework for getting what we want. However, as it projects us into our future selves, it takes us out of enjoying our present selves…and creates a pressure to achieve our objectives immediately. That pressure is often overwhelming, distracting and quite frankly, sets us back from achieving any forward motion at all. It removes the “the adventure is in the journey” part of goal-getting and takes away the fun in progress.
Intentions on the other hand are exactly that: something we intend to do. We are not so deeply attached to the outcome of our intentions. We acknowledge by their very name that they are efforts, things we are trying to do. This subtle difference plays a powerful impact on how we interact with these objectives. Intention-setting removes some of the stress around failure and puts us more into the present moment of our lives. If the goal is to lose 20 pounds, it’s safe to say that change won’t happen overnight. But setting a micro-goal, an intention, to start the day off with a healthy breakfast…that most certainly can happen immediately.
Intentions are the micro-goals that put us on track to achieving our big goals. They are an opportunity to make immediate and impactful change in the current version of ourselves. Who doesn’t love a little instant gratification?!
Intention-setting
Each month, I make a short list of things I intend to do or change.* I reflect on what went well the month before, what didn’t, and what small things I can do moving forward to make me feel better in the three aspects of my feel good life. Throughout the month, I check-in with myself to see how I am doing and make an honest assessment of my efforts in achieving my intentions. If they’re not being met, maybe I need to rethink my approach. If they are, awesome. High five to me. I’m one step closer to the big goal.
I also love to make a daily intention during my morning meditation or workout to set the tone for my day. It can be something as simple as “drink a glass of water every hour” or something slightly more difficult like “reframe challenges as a positive opportunities“. I notice that the days I set intentions, I am generally more optimistic, more empowered and more motivated to tackle whatever the day has to throw at me!
For me, intention-setting is critical to the cultivation of a FEEL GOOD life. It empowers me to be an active player in my own life by (gently) forcing me to take the reigns of what I personally can control.
Do you set intentions? Daily? Weekly? Monthly? If not, I dare you to give it a try! Just a month…and see how good it feels to get your glow!
*About the “short” part: intentions work best when they require minimal effort. This does not mean that you can be lazy and make change – because you can’t. It means that being realistic about your objectives makes it easier to obtain them. Maybe you only have one intention per month. That is totally okay. Only you know what you can truly take on. That’s something to respect, not criticize!