FORGET THOSE NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS!

January 1, 2024 Buffalo Latino Village

As another year during one of the most challenging times in history draws to a close, it may be time for a revolution in resolutions. Intention-setting is less about a specific goal and more about a shift in mindset to help achieve that goal.

“An intention is something you want to manifest in your life or some guiding principle that you want to live by,” says Diana Raab, a noted psychologist and author. While resolutions are hard and fast goals that are either achieved or broken, intentions are broader ideas. Raab describes them “as the beginning of a dream or desire” for something that you want for yourself. Seek out a journey, not an endpoint. Changing the conversation from an endpoint to a journey means there is a greater likelihood of being successful, without the risk of failure. Instead of setting a goal that science indicates is likely to be broken, a growing wave of folks are turning over a new leaf in a different way.

“I learned years ago that resolutions rarely last past Valentine’s Day,” says Sandra Scheinbaum, 71, of Scottsdale, Arizona. “On the other hand, setting intentions works because they’re associated with your hopes and dreams for the future.” For example, this year Scheinbaum intends to do everything in her power to stay healthy.

Tips for Setting Intentions:

Choose a broad, less specific goal for an intention than you would for a resolution: For example, improving health, lowering stress, or becoming more mindful or present.
Get specific about ways to achieve that intention. For example, using less technology, spending more time in nature, or meditating.
Plan how to incorporate those efforts into your regular routines.

Use a journal to make note of your intentions and your successes as the year continues.

Resolutions are often focused on smaller goals like trying to maintain good posture, exercising more, or cutting down on sugar, according to Dr. Raab. But an intention has a broader focus and often has to do with relationships, careers, self-improvement, or a larger call to action, such as travel.

To ensure successful intention-setting, Dr. Raab believes it is important to “commit to your intention,” making it “a part of your everyday thinking.”

Want something a little more concrete to help you follow through? Peter Gollwitzer, a professor of psychology at New York University who specializes in goal setting, asserts that people who engage in planning how to achieve a set goal are about three times more likely to succeed than people who leave it at mere goal setting.

“Specifying the how of reaching your goals makes people more likely to get started on time, stay on track in the face of distractions, and persist until the goal is attained,” Gollwitzer wrote in an email. “And this is true for all kinds of goals, more abstract ones such as New Year’s resolutions (I want to become more physically active!) or more concrete ones (I want to go running at least once a week!).”

Avoid resolutions that get broken annually. Once you have selected an intention, write it down to keep it in the forefront of your mind and help you manifest it in your everyday life, says Dr. Raab, who has written about intention-setting for Psychology Today. That’s what Beth Graham did last year. I sat down and decided how to approach the New Year and wrote in my journal, ‘Feel life. Live with intention,’” she says. The 58-year-old public relations specialist from St. Augustine, Florida, chose to shake things up for the next year after breaking her resolutions “every single year.”

Her intention was “to feel life,” which included changing the way she used technology to be more present in everyday tasks, shaking up her morning routine to feel more productive, and even putting on makeup each day. “Intentions are a bit more spiritual and they’re a bit less tangible—they’re changes made at a much deeper core within your soul,” she explains.

Janice Holly Booth, 62, of Charlotte, North Carolina, also had a new plan for herself last year. She “set an intention to try and become a little bit better at everything I do, whether that’s golf, painting, yard work or listening,” she says. Instead of rushing through her tasks, Booth was “present, mindful and focused” during each activity, a mindset that she predicted would bring improvement in everything from her golf swing to her gardening.

An intention doesn’t have to be an overarching goal, though. Ms. Millett, for example, chooses a specific word to focus on each year. In 2019 she selected the word “joy” and worked to imbue it into her everyday life. For 2020 she chose the word “wonder” and for 2021 she chose “flow.”

After several years of massive change and uncertainty, Millett says she feels “ready to let the energy of life flow freely through me, knowing full well how to allow joy and wonder at the same time.” What intentions are beckoning to you this coming year of 2024? What would you like to include in your life? Are there any changes you would like to make?

After all, change is only an intention away. The New year is a great time to set new intentions and work on some new goals.