Daily Intentions

Something that is fundamentally important to my own self-improvement processes is setting intentions daily.

Typically when people think of intention setting they relate it to the energy they want to show up with - “I want to be more abundant today”, or “I want to have a better attitude today”, or “I’m going to be a better listener”...

While all of that is important and genuinely improves the quality of your day, I have a more behavior-based form of intention setting.

I’ve taken the time to clearly define the standards I want to hold myself to in the major areas of my life.

My daily exercise, nutrition, and recovery practices operate as my health standards. The amount of time I spend on social media or watching TV, completing my #1 goal for the day, and following a high-quality schedule are my productivity standards. And the ways I outreach to friends and loved ones make up my relationship standards.

When you have clearly defined who you want to be you radically increase your likelihood of following through on being that person.

However, there’s an extremely important nuance. Your standards are meant to be dynamic. Different days call for different expectations for yourself. Ultimately, standards are in place to help you live up to being a better version of yourself. If that best version of yourself varies from day to day, then you have to be able to accommodate for that.

Let me give a few examples of what I mean.

I have a general standard to not eat dessert. However, there are instances where having dessert is my best-self choice to maximize my enjoyment and presence with an important moment. Knowing those special occasions in advance, I update my standard for the day to be able to enjoy dessert but still hold myself accountable to a certain portion. That's my modified intention for the day.

And I have a general standard to go on Youtube for no more than 15 minutes a day. I have an app limit in my phone that holds me to it. However, there are days when I want to go on Youtube for longer than that. Maybe there’s something specific I know I want to watch. So rather than rejecting it for the sake of being accountable to my standards, I make a temporary, reasonable, clearly defined exception to the standard so that I can do what I want to do on Youtube guilt free. It's my modified intention for the day.

How amazing would life be if you actually lived out your best intentions? Thinking more fluidly about them will help you to be at your very best.

Want to be more intentional, consistent, and better in every area of your life yourself? I recommend you start here!