As the new year approaches, we’re all excited about the fresh start that is almost upon us. It often feels like the perfect time to try new things, set goals, or drive our lives in the right direction. Even when that feels a little bit cliche, it’s easy to get excited about it. But what happens if goals intimidate you? Or you’re never that good at sticking to New Year’s resolutions? You may find that setting intentions is better for you instead.
Why Set Intentions At All?
Quite simply put, this entire process can be closely linked to goal setting (and the terminology be interchangeable). However, goals can often feel like a lot of pressure whereas the idea of an ‘intention’ can feel a lot lighter and more fun too. When you set intentions, you’re looking to guide your life in the direction you want it to go in. Whether it’s with your health, the way you look, your relationships, your hobbies, or even work – it’s all about having more control over your life instead of living on autopilot. And you’ll find you’re happier as a result too.
Why Now?
You might also be wondering why now. Or when is the best time to do it? But when a new year comes around, we all tend to feel refreshed and like we’re ready for a change. So you might find that you have the best shot at implementing new things and making them stick! Of course, any time of the year can feel like the right time of year for you – but if you’re reading this blog post, it’s a sign that you’re ready to get started… whatever time of the year it might be that you’re reading!
The Best Ways to Make Them Stick
One of the troubles with setting intentions or goals is that we don’t always stick to them. If this happens time and time again, we might lose faith in setting them at all or being excited about achieving them. But when you want to make them stick, being excited about them and investing in them is huge. At the same time, holding yourself accountable is a great way to see it all through. When you have laid out your plans, it’s much easier for you to build a habit and stick to your intentions.
6 Tips For New Year Intentions Setting
Then, when it comes to actually setting intentions, you need to make sure that you approach them in the right way. To help you, we’re now going to walk through a list of tips that are going to help you set your intentions and make them stick. Let’s get into it.
1. Be Realistic
To start off with, you need to make sure that you’re realistic with what you’re trying to achieve here. It’s easy to think up big elaborate plans or have huge dreams, but they aren’t necessarily going to come true. This is why it pays to be conservative with your intentions. When people set highly ambitious goals and intentions, it can feel too intimidating and make them self-sabotage along the way. This essentially means you’ll fall at the first hurdle and fail before you’ve even begun.
2. Be Slightly Ambitious
As much as you really do need to be realistic and make sure that you can actually achieve the intentions that you set, you also need them to be slightly out of reach. There is a difference between them being a bit of a stretch so that you have to work extra hard for them and them being completely unrealistic. When they’re a little far from what feels comfortable for you, that’s when the excitement of the challenge can fit in!
3. Be Honest With Yourself
You also need to make sure that you’re completely honest with yourself about what you want. It will be pretty pointless to set goals that look good but aren’t actually what you want! Whether it’s to lose 25lbs or get liposuction for men, travel the world, or get a promotion at work – it has to be something that you know you really want. It will be much more rewarding for you that way!
4. Set a Timescale
Then, you’re going to want to make sure that you set a timescale as well. If you set goals with no endpoint, they may just end up as dreams. One of the best ways to hold yourself accountable in the new year is to make sure that you have a deadline in place or some kind of timescale that you’re working toward!
5. Make Sure They’re Right For You
But at the same time, you really need to make sure that the intentions you’re setting are right for you. If you make intentions that are more focused on the needs of others or are things that you don’t really want, you’ll struggle to see them through! One of the best things you can do is make sure that you feel really invested in the outcomes or the things you’re working towards and you’ll feel ready to achieve them and make them happen!
6. Be Excited About Them!
Finally, you’re then going to want to make sure that you are actually excited about your plans. This can be an easy area where many people will slip up. Because it’s easy to set overly ambitious goals that scare us and we end up tripping up because of it! But when you are excited to reach your goals, you’ll be more inclined to stay on track with them and actually see them through! This is often the key to making it all click!
Final Thoughts
When it comes to having intentions for your new year, it can often feel either overwhelming or restrictive. But when you approach them in the right way and allow yourself to get excited about what you’re doing, it’s different. It can be a fun journey that you actually enjoy and get the most out of. Then you can make sure that the goals you’re setting are adding to your life and actually feel excited about achieving them!