So it’s the second week into 2014. How are you tracking? Have you had time to take a few moments and decide on what you’re focus will be for the year?
For me, this year I’ve decided to set three really high level strategic Intentions. The thing is, as 2013 drew to a close I had a lot going on. All good of course, but when you have a lot going on it kind of forces you to strip out the unnecessary. It encourages you to focus. And what I found though this process personally was a desire to simplify. So, stemming from this idea to simplify I have taken to the idea of setting intentions instead of goals for 2014.
What are intentions?
An intention is a little different to a goal in that it’s bigger and more strategic. It’s not specific, but big picture. It’s like thinking of areas to focus upon in your life that will inspire you at a top line level. It’s almost like setting yourself a vision for 2014, before filling that in with smaller more specific goals.
So what are my intentions?
1. Simplify
The first is to Simplify. As I mentioned just now, it can be easy to get sucked into the minutia of life and this often sees us wasting time on things that are not that important. It sees us over-complicating things unnecessarily. And with complications comes stress and ultimately exhaustion. I’ve noticed a pattern myself where I used to over-complicate things in order to justify value. So instead of making things easy, I would make them hard without realizing it. My over-analytical mind would analyse and strategise until I had layers and layers of complexity.
But what did this actually achieve? When I look at it with fresh eyes I can see that all this did was to create more work for myself and ultimately exhaustion, as I over-complicated my life unnecessarily! So 2014 for me will be about stripping things back, making things more simple, because I believe ultimately that simple is better. As the billionaire entrepreneur & philanthropist Richard Branson once said:
“Any fool can make something complicated. It is hard to make something simple.”
2. Create
I’m a big believer in creating the life you want. So this year for me I look forward to forming many new projects and collaborating with some really special people. For me, this is what’s fun about living! Every day we have the chance to get up and decide to create something whether that be a new friendship, a piece of art, a new project, a new social event, or anything at all! This is the beauty of being alive – to mold our lives into a series of unique experiences that ultimately make our souls sing. Because, life is supposed to be fun – and for me it’s the creative process of life that brings people the most joy. So this year, I’m less about outcomes and more about loving the creative process.
3. Innovate
Innovation has always been a passion of mine. I studied innovation studies at University. I co-founded an innovative new marketing business and I’m addicted to learning, because to me – learning is the ultimate source of innovation. Knowing myself pretty well after years of self-study (in-fact one of my personal values is even innovation), I know that when I’m innovating, I’m really a very happy bunny. I also know how much innovation can inspire others and how much it can help people to live their lives with more ease and with a sense of awe! Thinking back to some of the most incredible innovations – imagine a world without aeroplanes, computers, mobile phones or even cars?!
So this year, I’m excited to shift my focus towards innovation. I wish to bring innovation to all that I do in 2014 and to suck up new knowledge and ideas and skills like a sponge and to somehow diffuse them all into carefully formed new ideas, projects and collaborations that will ultimately help others in some way.
Simple Life Strategy: Setting your own intentions for 2014
So, as you can see, intentions are like high-level principles by which you intend to live 2014. They’re not detailed goals, but are a good first step to get you focused and in line with what you want to create in 2014. The thing I like the most about them is that they are really simple! How hard can it be to remember to focus on three simple things?
Here are a few tips for setting your own intentions:
1. Think about what things would make 2014 more fun? What could you get really passionate about?
2. Focus only on short and succinct, big-picture words so you don’t get bogged down in the detail of lengthy goals
3. Narrow it down to just 3 intentions
4. Check in and see if your intentions energise you? If they don’t you might need to start again
5. Write your three final intentions down and pin them up somewhere where you will see them often. Remind yourself to focus on these three intentions as you go about your life in 2014. You’ll be surprised how useful this process can be to get you focused.
Need some help defining your intentions for 2014? Get in touch about a life coaching session to get you on track.
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live every day with….intention?
Hi Carol,
I love it! This is a great intention 🙂
Zoe B