New Year, New Goal – Shifting the Perspective & Setting Intentions

We are approaching the New Year and it might be a good time to reflect on your previous New Year’s resolution. Did you meet your goal? If you did, congrats! – you are one of approximately 8% of people who have. If not, you’re not alone! – you fit in with the rest of us who probably haven’t even thought about that resolution in a long time. New Year’s resolutions stamp a pretty large timeline for setting goals, and therefore it often seems unattainable. If we have a slip-up, our brains like to tell us to just give up. However, even if we have a larger goal in mind, let’s start small so we are internally reinforced by our own success. We can start to shift the unattainability to a more realistic mindset by setting daily intentions.

A daily intention can be a good way to set us up for success. If we set a daily goal, we are more likely to either reach the goal or not give up so easily if we have a setback. Shifting our goal setting to a daily practice allows us to recognize our own progress and growth we’ve made. Here are a couple of tips if this speaks to you:

  • Make sure the intention is measurable and specific. For example, instead of making an intention to “be less anxious” try instead saying something like, “I will practice my deep breathing twice today.”
  • Try and make the goal a positive perspective. So instead of saying, “I’m not going to eat dessert today” try saying “I will find an alternative option to my sweet cravings” or “I’ll pass on donuts for breakfast”.
  • Give yourself some grace that fulfilling this intention might look different depending on the day. Some days we feel more motivated than others, so start noticing the positive choices you DO make that help reach that goal.
  • Lastly, make sure the intentions you set can be easily remembered throughout the day. Keep it simple and most importantly, intentional.

Written by Kelly Ciapetta, MS Ed., LPCC

Reference:

Prossack, Ashira. ForbesWomen. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashiraprossack1/2018/12/31/goals-not-resolutions/#6bbe30463879

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