Intention Setting To Make Lasting Change

In this blog I want to share about Intentions, and why setting Intentions, and tangible actions in line with those Intentions works.

This is a topic which could fill a whole book, so this is more of an overview, an introduction. But having some understanding of why this Intention setting approach works, can really help motivate us to do the work, to take the steps to making lasting change in our lives, one Intention at a time.

So, what do we mean by intentions?

Intentions are about deciding how we act or be in life. We act intentionally.

I use the words ‘embody’, ‘live inline with’, or ‘tap into’ an intention, as it’s something within us already. But we might want to tap into it more, or to develop it, or to connect more with it. 

It’s something we can do right away. 

We’ll work through an example, so let’s say you wanted to get more satisfaction in your career. 

Say you want to get a promotion, or to win a new project.

You might think your intention is to ‘Win the promotion/new project’. 

That is more like a goal, it’s something in the future. And it’s also something you can’t control. 

So instead of a goal, we look at an intention that could help you win a promotion or new project. Something that is already within you, and something you can control.

So the intention might be:

“To show up to work focused and open minded to possibilities and opportunities to learn, grow and collaborate”.

You create the intention to be how you want to act which could bring you what you desire (or something even better that you haven’t imagined yet!). 

Just a mini segway here…. I believe in the power of Intentions rather than Goals. A goal is future orientated, and often out of our control. A goal can make us blinkered, therefore missing other opportunities. A goal can cause stress, anxiety and fear, as we strive to control what is uncontrollable to meet our goal. A goal can be biased by our limiting beliefs. And a goal assumes that we know best, that we are experts in life and the world around us, when we set them. 

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’m that much of an expert in life to know what I really will want or need in a year's time, or even next month!  The one constant in life is change. So it’s out with SMART goals, and in with Intentions. 

Intentions that open me up to possibilities, enable me to grow, and can bring me something I couldn’t have imagined. 

Back to our example, we want to develop our career, get more satisfaction in our work. And this might be by getting a promotion or winning a new project. So we set ourselves the Intention:

“To show up to work focused and open minded to possibilities and opportunities to learn, grow and collaborate”.

So now let’s get into the science of how to use an Intention to make lasting change.

This is a very high level view of a couple of concepts developed by Neuroscientists, and used by many leaders in coaching/personal development/self help. 

The first important concept is that our brains want to be efficient and save energy. 

So as the brain takes in vast amounts of information, it filters it, it assigns an importance to it, and then it takes that smaller amount of information and compares it to what the brain already knows and matches it up with an established thought pattern and behaviour.

Secondly our brains want to keep us safe - thank you brain! But this means it wants to avoid risk, and anything new is perceived as a risk.

So our brains are literally designed to hold us in our existing patterns! 

So if you just say my new Intention is …….. Then carry on with life, your brain, your subconscious, is going to bypass your good intention and carry on in it’s ‘safe’ known patterns.

Therefore we introduce the concept of Neuroplasticity; which is the ability of our brains to change. 

So if we’re stuck in a rut, with looping thoughts and behaviours, neuroplasticity shows we absolutely can change those thoughts and get out of that rut. We can get our brains to believe in the new Intention, and stick to it.

If we think of that Intention as a thought pattern, it’s a pathway in the brain. 

The existing thought pattern is like a main road, it’s well trodden, known, safe, and easy to travel down. 

Setting an Intention is setting up a new pathway in the brain. It’s like a bramble, stinging nettled filled foot path at the start. Risky, and hard to walk down.

But we can make that little footpath into a main road, and it will become the dominant thought pattern and lead us to repeating our new chosen behaviour instead of the old.

I call this embedding.

So to stick to our Intention, we need to embed it. 

And we embed, by using how the brain works:

1. Embody that Intention - consciously use it, be it, by taking small actions we’re most likely to succeed at. 

2. Repetition - each time we embody that Intention we trample down the brambles and widen the footpath. 

3. Make it safe - show the brain that this isn’t so new or risky, by seeking out and seeing/experiencing others who embody this Intention/behaviour. 

4. Emotional Intensity - tap into our why, this will increase the importance the brain assigns to this Intention. 

This is a key part of the methodology I use in my coaching programmes and events, and in the way I’ve developed and grown over many many years. We harness neuroplasticity to create new thought patterns, behaviours and habits, and hence make changes in our lives. 

Lets go back to the example:

We want to develop our career, get more satisfaction in our work. And this might be by getting a promotion or winning a new project. So we set ourselves the Intention:

“To show up to work focused and open minded to possibilities and opportunities to learn, grow and collaborate”.

The old thought pattern that’s keeping us in the rut could be:

‘I just need to get through the day, keep my head down, and get out of here, I’d like the promotion, but I bet someone else will get it anyway’ - this would lead to a behaviour of isolation, and your boss is unlikely to see you or promote you.

So was want to set tangible Actions to embed our new Intention so it is more dominant in our brains than the old thought pattern.

So specific actions to embody this intention could be:

1. To turn off my screens at 9.30pm, do my bedtime ritual and get to bed by 10pm, so I can get a great night's sleep. Then set my alarm for 7am, so I get 30 minutes to move, breathe and meditate before getting ready for work.

2. Ask one colleague or person who inspires me (in my field of work), to a coffee every 2 weeks, and ask them about their work and career and be open to opportunities to collaborate.

3. Commit to reading and learning each week a little more about X.

4. To journal; what my skills, talents and gifts are, and how I’d like to use these.

5. To update my socials to reflect who I am, what I offer and what I’m looking for.

These actions combine embedding with practical actions that are in line with our Intention. 

So we’ve identified an intention, and we’ve created some specific actions, we then need to ask ourselves “What’s important about this intention to me?” - the emotional intensity piece. I call this our Personal Powerful Motivator.

So in the example; 

The intention: “To show up to work focused and open minded to possibilities and opportunities to learn, grow and collaborate”

The Personal Powerful Motivator: “It’s important to me as I feel stagnant in my current role, and want to progress, to learn, to feel fulfilled in my work. And I want to earn more money so I can move into my next home. Embodying this intention can bring me these things.”

We each will have our own rationale for what’s important about our intention to us. But tapping into that rationale will help us succeed.

Time to wrap this up;

An Intention is a way to act, a way to be in life. 

It’s within our control.

And we set an Intention with the aim it will move us forward to something we desire. But we don’t limit ourselves with a specific outcome or goal.

Once we’ve set our Intention we set tangible actions that embed this new Intention. And we identify our Personal Powerful Motivator. Increasing our chance of success. 

We embody our Intention and move forward to what we truly desire.