We all know the drill. It's the week after Christmas, and we find ourselves eagerly making a list of resolutions, full of rigid plans to accomplish for each of the next 365 days. Maybe we’ll suddenly start walking an extra 5,000 steps a day. Maybe we'll read a novel each week or start a business from a brand new hobby.
Then the second half of January rolls around, and once again we get the familiar sense that our enthusiasm is starting to wane. Even if we’re using a lovely Leatherpress journal (!), change is difficult, and our shiny new resolutions begin to lose their luster.
Letting Go of Resolutions
It may be time to let go of trying to tough out our New Year's resolutions until we're drained of energy. Doing that only traps us in a cycle of guilt and frustration when we inevitably miss a beat.
Could there be another way to accomplish our goals with the fresh start that January provides—perhaps one with a little more margin for error? Can we get a second take on this process?
That’s where intention setting comes in.
In this blog post, we'll cover:
- Intention Setting vs. New Year’s Resolutions: What Is Intention Setting?
- How Do I Begin an Intention Setting Journal?
- How to Cultivate an Intentional Mindset
- Questions for an Intention Setting Journal
- How to Use an Intention Setting Journal Consistently
Intention Setting vs. New Year’s Resolutions: What Is Intention Setting?
If you look up the word intention, you’ll find its Latin root to be “intendere” or “intentio,” which means a stretching towards a purpose, or turning one’s attention towards something. Intention setting means steering our mindset towards the why and how behind a goal or desire, not just what it is. When we reach for a purpose rather than simply striving for our goals in and of themselves, our goals begin to carry a deeper significance. Plus, we become even more motivated to accomplish them.
Intention setting isn't making a guilt-driven list of New Year's resolutions with an arbitrary result in mind. Rather, it frames our goals in the context of why we're doing them, as well as how we'll accomplish them. Equally as important, intention setting is a fresh approach that allows for grace for the whole person—including the occasional inconsistencies.
That is, intention setting focuses more on the person we become along the way rather than strictly the end result.
Setting goals is important, of course. Goals give us clarity and direction for how to improve our lives. (You can even check out our goal setting blog post here.) But we have to consider the why and how behind our goals in order to reach them effectively. This way, our motivation becomes meaningful rather than shallow, like it tends to be with New Year’s resolutions.
For instance, intention setting could shift our motivation away from losing a specified amount of weight each week to "being the healthiest version of myself in order to be strong for myself and my family.” While we can set specific exercise goals to accomplish this, it wouldn’t need to be a rigid plan for each day of the year that would impact our confidence if we missed a step.
Unlike with New Year’s resolutions, this motivation will keep us going even when we're tired or have to take a day off.
How Do I Begin an Intention Setting Journal?
You can keep a journal of how you’re working towards these intentions, including the steps you take each day or week. This will allow you to track your progress and adjust as necessary—proving much more beneficial than traditional New Year’s resolutions.
For another example, a regular New Year’s resolution would be to save more money this year. But with intention setting, you could aim, say, to set aside specifically $100 each month, or even $5 a day, because you want to spend more time with long-distance family and you’ve got to purchase airline tickets. Maybe that means working a little extra some afternoons or cutting back your coffee budget. You could even write a sentence or two at the start of the journal about what your family means to you and the memories you hope to make with them. Now you have a defined why and how for your goal. You would repeat this process for each goal you have for the year.
To fill your intention setting journal, you would then write a few sentences each day or week on what you’ve done to move towards (or away from) each of your goals. This way, your journal can keep you accountable to stay focused, boosting your progress.
Intention setting not only provides a helpful way to meet our goals, it also shifts our mindset to focus on the deeper matters at hand. After all, when we make a resolution, aren’t we hoping for a purposeful, lasting change?
How to Cultivate an Intentional Mindset
An intention setting journal may sound more complicated than a checklist of resolutions, but is it really? If setting an intention means recalibrating your mindset, then this means you’ve got the power of optimism and enthusiasm turned towards your goals. A positive mindset shapes the why behind your intentions. Your goals become a director, not a dictator. In fact, you’ll find them to be more flexible, more helpful, and even more enjoyable to accomplish.
But living into our intentions isn’t only a mind game. It’s a holistic approach to goals or desires. We’ll need to take action. We’ll need to cultivate habits—or break them—in order to move forward. Going back to the previous example, if we need airline tickets to see family, we might need to curb a dinner-out habit and eat in to save money—and this might also mean we need to expand our cooking repertoire. Our habits are the "how's" we’ll put in place to get us where we want to go.
Questions for an Intention Setting Journal
If intention setting seems far more satisfying for you than the monotony of already-fizzled-out New Year’s resolutions, grab a journal—our leather journals are just the thing you need to record lasting change. Here are some questions to think about as you journal your intentions.
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What life dreams do you have? Intentions usually grow from desires, hopes, and dreams. Jot down what comes to mind across areas of your life like personal health, education, work, and relationships. Add any other categories you need, like spiritual health or travel. Our journaling templates for work, parenting, home, and students capture some of these reflective questions for roles that might apply to you.
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What’s possible this year? Think through what goals are actually possible for you to accomplish this year given who you are and where you are in life. If you are paying college tuition you might have to wait to start your own business, for example. Or maybe that’s why you need a side gig!
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What’s possible right in this moment to work towards these goals? Now, think through actions that can help you accomplish each intention. “Getting to know the neighbors better” might mean you invite them for drinks on the patio.
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What habits can you build to help you turn your attention toward your purpose? Maybe getting up 15 minutes earlier means you can exercise more days per week and keep your body healthy.
Remember that intention setting is intentionally holistic. It’s not one-and-done resolution making. It’s not even about productivity as much as it’s about setting regular practices. And it’s certainly not about a race, but about routines that orient your mind and body towards meaningful change over time.
How to Use an Intention Setting Journal Consistently
Use your intention setting journal on a regular basis—we’d recommend daily or weekly to evaluate how you are doing with your goals. What’s working and what isn’t? What life events or situations have changed, and do you need to reevaluate what’s possible?
Harness your why and how, set realistic expectations, and use your intention journal to move you forward towards your dreams. And choose from our lovely colors and styles here at Leatherpress to get started.