Have you ever found yourself moving diligently towards a goal, only to figure out half-way through (or maybe at the finish line) that the achievement of that goal really isn’t what you want?
Have you ever felt empty or frustrated when pursuing your goals?
It’s quite possible that you haven’t fully aligned – from your soul space – with what it is you’re out to achieve.
Meaningful intention setting is a term I’ve come up with to describe the practice of aligning your goals and actions with your heart’s desire, instead of what you ‘think’ you should be doing. It’s about coming from your heart vs. your head. A good clue to know you’re on the right track is if you feel ‘pulled’ or ‘guided’ in a certain direction. When you feel that inner nudge, you’re probably setting intentions that are in alignment with what you feel you’re here to do.
When you set meaningful intentions, the actions that you take have deep, inner meaning to you and you’ll naturally have the motivation/energy to continue moving towards them. An intention is guided by an inner desire. The intention raises your energy, ‘feels right’ in your heart, and increases your productivity.
Goals on the other hand (the way we typically think of them), are something outside of ourselves that we strive to achieve. Many people set goals based on what they think they should do, what someone else has, or what someone else thinks they should do or have. If you catch yourself striving for a goal that falls into one of these three categories, do an inner guidance check and re-set. When your goals don’t have meaning to you, you may feel miserable, tired, exhausted, or unfulfilled.
The process of Meaningful Intention Setting though goes a bit against standard goal achievement practice because it’s less about being in the future, and more about LIVING IN THE MOMENT.
You need to first know what you want, take actions that align with the truth of who you are, and then let go.
So, Meaningful intention setting has 3 parts that step and repeat:
- Get clarity on what you want
- Take action on that clarity
- SURRENDER to the outcome – stop trying to force the issue
It’s a process, not a finite action.
It’s about checking in and being honest about what fuels you.
It’s about letting life show you the way, rather than you trying to control every little outcome in your life.
Do you see how this is counter-intuitive to what we’re typically taught about achieving goals?
And do you also see why so many people are exhausted, drained and burnt out? (Hint: they aren’t ‘tuned in’ to their inner wisdom.)
The 3-step process of Meaningful Intention Setting continues to go around in circles. Every time we get clarity, we take action and then we surrender to the outcome. Then we get clarity again because sometimes we don’t always get what we expect. But when you use this simple formula, you’ll feel more on purpose.
You’ll feel more aligned.
And once you know you’re taking action that is fueled by your inner desires and wisdom, then write them down using this simple goal setting strategy.
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