The Power of New Year’s Intentions: Not Resolutions.
As the year comes to an end, we often start pondering the past and imagining the possibilities that lie ahead. While New Year's resolutions have conventionally served as a popular way to kickstart positive change, they unfortunately often lose momentum as the year unfolds, leaving us disillusioned and disappointed. This time around, why not experiment with a different strategy? Instead of resolutions, let’s set intentions grounded in mindfulness and purpose. Let’s explore how to craft intentions and learn how they can pave the way for a more gratifying and purposeful year to come.
Understanding the Difference:
Resolutions are usually a response to a pain point, something we’re feeling unhappy about, or something we dislike, and because of those underlying feelings there’s a tendency to swing the opposite way and create strict goals and a sense of obligation. They tend to be outcome-focused and regularly lead to feelings of failure if not achieved. Intentions, on the other hand, when set mindfully (we’ll explore this) are attached to positive feelings which are cultivated from our core values and the things we care deeply about, we care about the journey and the underlying purpose behind our actions. They are more flexible and open-ended, allowing for personal growth and transformation.
Ok, lets look at how to do this.
Reflect on the Year that was:
I don’t remember who said it but ‘hope is a wonderful thing, but it’s not a goal’ so before diving into setting intentions for the new year, take some time to reflect on the past 12 months. What were your successes and challenges? What lessons did you learn? This reflection will provide valuable insights into areas of your life that may need attention and areas where you have excelled.
2. Connect with Your Values:
Intentions are most powerful when they align with your core values. Consider what is truly important to you—whether it's relationships, personal growth, well-being, or creativity. Connecting your intentions to your values will give them a deeper meaning and increase your motivation to pursue them. Download this ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) values worksheet here.
3. Be Mindful and Present:
As you set intentions, practice mindfulness. Be present in the moment and cultivate awareness of your thoughts and feelings. Mindfulness can help you clarify your intentions and ensure they are aligned with your authentic self. Our minds are a complicated space, it’s a proven and effective tool to help us slow down the overwhelming thoughts. Using mindful breath work can help when the ‘busy mind’ starts getting in the way, try this simple mindfulness tool from Headspace.
4. Keep it Positive:
Rather than framing your intentions in a negative light, focus on the positive changes you want to make. For example, instead of saying, "I will quit unhealthy habits," rephrase it as "I will prioritize my well-being by making positive choices." Refer to your core values (see the above worksheet).
5. Set Realistic and Attainable Goals:
Intentions should inspire and motivate, not overwhelm. Break down your intentions into smaller, achievable goals. This step-by-step approach will make your journey more manageable and increase your likelihood of success. The smaller the better, I highly encourage you to read about ‘Habit Stacking’ here.
6. Create a Vision Board:
Vision boards serve a couple of functions, firstly visualization is a well-known and effective mindfulness strategy and a creative tool, both are evidenced to wire our brains for positive change. Also as you collect images, quotes, and symbols that represent your goals and aspirations, you’re creating synapses in your brain that are wired toward those things, the ocular nerve (our eyes) is a huge part of influencing the way our brains work, what you see matters. It’s also a part of the brain's “Reticular Activation System”, once you’ve created an awareness of something, you start subconsciously looking for it (think a game of spotto, bet you never realized how many yellow cars there are). I love to do this in a tactile way, with magazines, etc. but you could also make on online using a tool like this.
Place your vision board in a visible location to serve as a daily reminder of your intentions.
7. Cultivate a Growth Mindset:
Approach the new year with a growth mindset. When you feel like you suck at something tell yourself ‘I can’t do that… Yet’. Even saying I don’t know how, is different to saying I can’t. One you can grow from and one is a set state. Our internal dialogue makes a difference, decide to challenge fixed, negative perspectives. Embrace challenges as opportunities for learning and view setbacks as stepping stones toward personal development. A growth mindset will empower you to access resilience and try again.
As you say goodbye to the old and welcome the new, consider whether you’re reacting to pain, or whether mindful intentions might be more helpful. Setting heartfelt intentions that align with your values, often helps us to focus less on the outcome and more on the process, and the evidence is strong (plus it’s just common sense), that the process is what creates the outcome anyway… And what if, during the process, you figured out that you didn’t want the original outcome anyway ? Wouldn’t that be cool, knowing that your core values have led you somewhere else, instead of ‘failing’ at your NY resolutions?
Written by Shani, who is a Counsellor, Coach, and Educator here at SJP Wellbeing, she holds a Dip Positive Psychology and Wellbeing, a Bachelor’s in Counselling (Coaching), and works with young people, parents, and workplaces in Adelaide, and online.