What is your intention?

Sometimes we set ourselves up for failure because we are not clear about what our intentions are. So that’s why before starting a new project, be it personal or professional, I sit down and try to be clear with myself about what my intention really is.

Defining what the expected outputs and outcomes are, is a vital step to be able to achieve our goals.

These words can be confusing so let’s be clear on the meaning here… by outputs I mean the immediate results aka the activities and actions I will undertake to get to the end goal, and by outcomes I mean the longer terms results, which can often be harder to measure as they can be a bit more subjective.

As an example, if my intention is to be less stressed (outcome), I will undertake a series of shorter term actions to help me get there, for example I’ll mediate 10 minutes a day, I’ll practise yoga once a week, I’ll go for a walk every day, and so on. Each of these activities will have an immediate output, so for example after meditating I might feel calmer and more able to control my emotions.

Intentions, outputs and outcomes – like objectives – need to be as SMART as possible. i.e. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Bound.

Sometimes no matter how well we prepared, things just don’t go to plan, but I think as long as our intentions were clear and we did our best, that is all that matters. We live and learn, so next time we’ll do better.

PS: I chose this cactus photo by Stephanie Harvey on Unsplash because I thought it was very pretty and plants and flowers makes me feel happy.