Your business may have goals, but do you or your business have intentions? Setting a business intention is different than setting a goal. Goals are focused on defining success or failure, it is focused on the future and what you want to achieve in the future. An intention is more about the present, it isn’t the “what” it is more the “how” you want to be in the current moment and how you want to experience the world around you. An intention is something that you can carry with you and live in daily, it is completely independent of achieving a goal. Intentions focus on your relationships externally and internally. Intentions can and should be combined with goals, they aren’t mutually exclusive. Setting an intention will allow you to live fully in the moment on your journey to your goal.
Setting an intention should come from your heart and be connected to what you want to give and get out of the world around you. If you’re unsure with where to start in setting an intention think about some of the little things going on with your life like situations you may be facing in the near future, what current things are causing you unhappiness or imbalance. Now that you’ve identified those things, think about how you want to feel or what you want the outcome to be for these situations. For example, if you feel unhappy with what you accomplish every day, always seem to be overwhelmed and focusing on all of the things remaining on your to-do list your intention may be something like “I intend to live in the moment and be fully present in mind and body, accepting myself and opening myself to whatever my day may bring, finding joy and peace where I can.”
When you’re figuring out how to set intentions, you can think about incorporating this kind of language into your intentions as a jumping off point:
- Expressing gratitude, love or courage
- Expanding your focus, mind or heart
- Remaining open and receptive
- Finding balance, simplicity or connection
- Flowing with change
- Extending grace
- Feeling peace, calmness or steadiness
- Giving or receiving love, kindness
- Allowing yourself to be vulnerable
Setting an intention and carrying it with you daily will not only help you achieve your goals; it will bring focus and mindfulness into your daily activities. You can have more than one intention! Take some time within the next week to develop intentions for yourself and how you want to live your life. If you feel comfortable sharing, I would like to know what your intention is and how incorporating daily intentions may be changing your perspective.
