I am a HUGE believer in setting goals. Goals are our roadmap that clarifies who we want to be and how we want to feel. But sometimes goals can be overwhelming and cause us to be frustrated.
Have you ever had an event on your calendar, and you think, “I have 6 months to fit into that dress”, and I know I can do it! You might even purchase a few books on dieting or buy a gym membership and you have set yourself a goal for your upcoming event.
And then what happens? I know because I have done this more times than I can count.
The days go by, and then the weeks, and then the months…and here we are a few days from the big event and beating ourselves up for once again failing.
What happened?
There are so many directions that we can go in answering that question and so many reasons that we can give ourselves as to how we just let other things take the place of what we thought we wanted to happen, but today I want to talk to you about intentions, and specifically DAILY intentions.
Daily intentions are different than our short term and long term goals and they are also different than a to-do list.
Daily intentions are you simply focusing your attention on getting through your day making conscious decisions. ONE. DAY. AT. A. TIME.
Daily intentions empower you and make you realize YOU are in complete control. Does this mean that everything is going to go exactly as you planned every day and you are going to always have perfect days? No, of course not, but if we begin each day with a focus, we will have a much better chance of being successful. Each successful day, each good decision will add up and before you know it you will be on your journey to reach those long-term goals... AND to fit into that dress for your event!
Setting a daily intention will give you focus, clarify your behavior and help you realize that your goals are possible and not just dreams.
Be careful to realize that your Daily Intentions are not necessarily a to-do list, or a gratitude journal, but rather a hybrid mix of both. The problem with ‘to-do’ lists is that if we do not finish everything on the list it can cause us to feel anxious. Often thinking about and making our lists can be exhausting or overwhelming when we think of all the work ahead of us. We can also go through our day so task oriented that we fail to even notice all that is going on around us.
Here are four tips to help keep you on track and feel successful.
Recognize the tasks that you have ahead of you for the day and be realistic.
Prioritize your tasks. Acknowledge a few items that you know you want to feel successful about completing. This can be as simple as how you will take time to enjoy your meals or the friends or coworkers that you will see that day, or it can be how you want to feel after tackling and completing a huge project that is on your mind.
Keep your daily list simple and end with your intention to how you will approach your day, such as, “I will show acts of kindness throughout my day to others and to myself,” or ‘Today I will allow love and joy to fill my day and I will be positive and forgiving.” Try to change your intention every day so you don’t become so use to it it is no longer effective.
Pick a certain time of day and place that you make your list so that it becomes a habit.
