Goals vs Intentions: A Fresh Approach to Planning For the New Year
Like many of us, I begin January by making resolutions and setting goals for the year ahead. 2020 made me rethink this; given this past year’s unforeseen twists and turns, some of my goals were tossed out the window. Sound familiar?
In my pursuit of learning new frameworks for annual reviews, I came across a different way of approaching resolutions. During Steve Shlafman’s Ultimate year-end review workshop, I began to reflect on the difference between setting goals and setting intentions.
Both are ways to be purposeful about the year ahead, but “Being intentional allows you to focus on how you want to be in the moment, independent of whether you are winning or losing” (TED). Some of the crucial differences between the two are:
Intentions are about your relationship with yourself and others. They focus on overarching questions such as: Who am I becoming? How do I want to learn and grow? What’s my objective? Why is this important?
Goals, on the other hand, are external achievements. Like the dials on a dashboard, they tell you if you’re on the right path.
Intentions are about the present moment. They are lived each day, independent of achieving the goal or destination.
Goals are focused on the future. They are set around a destination or a specific achievement.
How might your goals for the New Year change with these differences in mind? What if you evaluate growth by focusing on how you’re evolving and what you’re learning rather than what goals you achieve?
As you think about what you’d like to achieve in 2021, my challenge for you is to set your intentions first. Learn to enjoy the journey as much as the destination.
