According to an article in the New York Times, four out of five people who make New Year’s resolutions tonight will eventually break them. In fact, a third won’t even make it to the end of January. That’s a lot of people!

Have you been one of those people who continually make resolutions, only to find yourself breaking them relatively early in the year? I know I have been. I did it so often that I no longer make resolutions.

Intention Rather Than Resolution

A resolution, as defined by Webster, is “an act of resolving to do something” and “a course of action determined or decided on.” This means that a resolution is an action we wish to take based on a decision, and then requires determination to achieve it. A resolution requires us to be clear on why we are making this decision to take this course of action. Are we making resolutions based on the wants and desires of others around us, and the “shoulds” and “oughts” that talk to us in our heads—or are they the product of our own making?

After riding the “resolution rollercoaster” for years, I decided I wanted to get off the ride. I wanted a different approach. And I found it within my spiritual practice. What did I find, you ask? Great question. I found the art of setting an intention.

Intention is defined as “a designed plan of action; an aim that guides action.” The word intent, which comes from intention, indicates “purpose, meaning, and significance.” It was then I had an epiphany.

A resolution, which is the decision to take a course of action, can only come once an intention is made. An intention carries a much deeper implication to the resolution. I realized that resolution is about the doing, but an intention is about the state of our being.

So the better question to ask ourselves is not “What resolution do I want to make for the coming year?” but rather “What intention do I wish to set for the coming year?”

When we ask ourselves in this way, we move from “What do I want or need to do in the coming year?” to the more powerful “Who do I wish to be/become in the coming year?” Once we decide who we want to be/become (the intention), then we can address the action steps (the resolution) we might consider taking toward that goal.

My Process for Setting an Intention for the New Year

Here are my tips for setting an intention for the New Year:

• Decide who you would like to be/become in the New Year. What’s the burning why for becoming this new person? The answer to this question becomes your Statement of Purpose.
• Here’s a fun visualization you can also work with: You have come to the end of the year. You are now the person you intended at the beginning of the year. How is your life different, enhanced, improved, made better by becoming this new version of yourself?

Doing this exercise reveals the desired result you wish to achieve from the intention being made.

• Then, going backward, ask this new version of yourself what he or she did over the course of the year to become this wonderfully amazing person. Another way to do this is to pretend you are being interviewed for a news story or a magazine. The interviewer is asking you basically what you did to achieve the results you have. This becomes the action steps you are suggesting to yourself to take, which then become the things you resolve (from the word resolution) to do.

So…what’s your intention for the New Year?

If you need assistance in creating intentions for the new year, LifePlan is now offering a FREE 30-minute “New Year, New You” 1-on-1 Coaching Session throughout the month of January. For more information, you can contact me here and on the LifePlan website. You can also schedule your session using my online scheduler.

Your partner in setting intentions rather than resolutions,

James