What Makes New Year Intentions Successful
New year, new you right? Well, sort of. You may want to try to establish greater change than is sustainable, with diminishing returns after the first 30 days. Instead, by focusing on changing your lifestyle in only small increments, and focusing more on investing in internal change and personal growth, you will notice longer lasting results that come from the inside out.
I am writing this article at the end of January, a time when many people start to lose steam in their initial intentions. Perhaps you set an exercise goal of working out 5 days per week, but then got sick 2 weeks in and lost motivation. Since then, it has been hard to pick back up. There is something our brain thrives on, even more than accomplishing goals. That is procrastination. If we can push it off to another day, we still feel okay, since we are in control of when and how long we procrastinate.
Another thing about intentions is that they are often focused on the external. Things we can produce, achieve, or measure. Since they are often tangible goals that come from outside of ourselves, we may lose the internal drive and motivation for them if we don't stay connected with our inner purpose. Why did we make that goal initially? Was it worth something to us deeper than feeling “this is what I should be doing”?
If we focus on goals and changes that we can manifest internally, we will create much longer lasting and sustainable change that will have a ripple effect on our lifestyle and habits. We can begin to feel better about ourselves by choosing intentions that are truly meaningful, and those intentions create an internal sense of purpose and value. For instance, one goal may be to practice attending more to your own needs rather than overdoing for everyone else, and being drained by the needs of others. As you start to attend to your own needs, habits like healthy eating patterns, self-care, and regular exercise will shift automatically just by changing the focus to what you need. You may also realize you have more time to invest in yourself when you start to prioritize you and set boundaries around your responsibilities and commitments to others.
When you begin to shift your mindset, and your thoughts to noticing the value in the things you do each day, you will naturally become more mindful and conscientious about the choices you make and begin to form better habits. Remember that a strong internal sense of worth and value will make you feel like you deserve lasting and sustainable change. And that is the new version of you that this new year deserves.
