I hate New Years Resolutions.

I used to sit on New Years Eve or New Years Day and write out this great long list of things I had to do the next year. I had to write a book. Get promoted. Make a certain amount of money. Drop a dress size. Travel to X amount of countries, read X amount of books. I was always over-enthusiastic when I wrote these lists and they just ended up getting forgotten about. Sometimes I’d post them on social media and then the next year they’d pop up as a memory and just make me feel shitty because I’d forgotten basically all of them, and I’d failed at most of them. 

New Years Resolutions are just rules and restrictions, unrealistic expectations and pressures - and they are usually doomed to fail. 

Intentions are much simpler. I really like to have just one, overarching, simple Intention to come back to again and again through my year.

On the first Saturday of 2023, I ran a online guided workshop session in which we spent time reflecting, resetting, and setting our Intentions for the new year. No pressure - just an opportunity to explore and set goals on experiences instead of expectations.

If you missed that session, have no fear! I’ve got you. Below are the prompts we explored in this session, so you can have a go too.

You will need: a journal/notebook and pen, and somewhere quiet you can focus.

Reflect & Reset: Setting your Intentions for 2023

Take some time to reflect on your memories of the last year.

Can you write down something/some things from the last year that has/have made you feel good?

Remember, here ‘good’ is something of an umbrella term. It can mean; happy, loved, proud, free, positive, excited, anything. It’s open to your interpretation.

Then can you write down something/some things that has/have made you feel bad?

Again, this might mean; sad, angry, anxious, stressed, scared, ashamed, negative in some way. Open to your interpretation.

Now divide your notebook page into two halves. On one half, write ‘MORE’ and on the other write ‘LESS’. Start filling up each side of the page with things that you want more of, and things you want less of.

This can relate to experiences, feelings, people, states of mind. As always, it’s open to your interpretation.

Now, think about your Intentions for 2023. Look back at those previous prompts. Is there anything that jumps out - any words or phrases you are drawn to. Take some time to focus on one, or a few of these and explore them.

If you are drawn to the word ‘balance’, for example, what does that mean? What does it look like to you? Can you write about any experiences you’ve had this year, any moments when you have felt you have embodied that sense of balance? A decision you have made, or a boundary you have set? Let’s start practicing setting our goals and intentions based on experience, rather than expectation.

Your Intention can be one word, or a simple phrase, that you can carry with you through the year. It’s a focus to come back to, to be aware of. It isn’t something you have to DO every day, but you want to be able to come back to it regularly.

Now you’ve had some time to think about it, and explore your options, let’s have a go at settling on that one Intention for your year. You can have a few, if you like, but it’s nice to have one main one at the top of your list. Write that down, underline it.

And then think about one small goal that you can set yourself, an achievable goal that you can do TODAY, that honours that Intention. Set that goal, and go and do that thing. Recognise and be aware of embodying your Intention.

And that’s it! All you need to do with your Intention is keep coming back to it. Use it to inspire the goals you set for yourself, use it to bring your focus back when it wanders.

If a lot of what you found yourself writing was about having more TIME, more BALANCE, and less STRESS, you might benefit from coming to talk to me (for free!) about Burnout. If you’re struggling with Burnout right now, I have slots available for 30 minute consultation calls and I would love to chat to you.

Mx