First thing’s first: What is intention setting and why is it important?
Intention setting, as a generic term, can mean a variety of things. It can range from a declarative way of stating an end-goal to a gentle reminder of the type of energy you want to bring to a particular activity. The common element across this broad spectrum, is the act of intention setting moves your attention in a direction you specify.
How long and how well the intention equips you to behave in an intention-aligned manner depends on a variety of factors. Consistency – both in remembering the intention and keeping your attention intention-oriented – makes a big difference in the effectiveness of intention setting.
Intention setting, as it is utilized in the Other Hand attention prioritization model, is a very specific version. As you might have already guessed, attention prioritization means determining where attention is most required. Because some things are more important. Which also means, some things are less important.
As it happens, most folks struggle to distinguish what matters from what doesn’t. Especially when they are trying to do it in the moment. Real-time prioritization is a lot harder when we are hungry, tired, stressed, bored, multi-tasking, angry, or any souped-up combo of these. Of course, technology optimized to hijack as much of our time and attention as possible doesn’t help the situation. Which might be the understatement of the decade!
So, how do we know where to prioritize our attention? Short answer – most of us don’t. We let outside influences do the prioritization for us, and then try to backfill the resulting meaning vacuum with goals, resolutions, affirmations, (dashed) hopes, and constant busyness. Maybe with a few intentions thrown in to round out the “try something, try everything” strategy. Sometimes, we get something like results.
It’s exhausting! And it doesn’t even work that well. Despite all the time, money, and energy we invest in trying to convince ourselves that we are in control, life will present us situations that we wouldn’t choose. The more we try to white-knuckle reality, the more disempowered we feel when life up and smacks us in our nose.
How to Set Intentions that Work
Thankfully, there is a better approach. Better as in more effective and sustainable. It does involve skill development and the learning curve isn’t easy. Compared with what most of us are running around attempting, it is certainly easier and simpler in the long run.
In the story of our lives, we are not the script writers. But! Even though we don’t write the script, we can influence our own character’s development arc. Learning how to be intentional with our character development is possible, empowering, and immensely rewarding.
To do this well, we need to thoughtfully prioritize what we want for our “character”; the choices she makes in everyday situations, how she chooses to spend her time. In other words, we can use carefully developed and prioritized intentions to inform what we choose to pay attention to in daily life.
Yes, even intentions need to be prioritized. Intentions are a tool for framing our attention. What makes an intention worth its salt is whether it has us headed in more or less the right direction. What I like to call directionally correct. Working memory is pretty limited. In order to get the best return on attentional investment, the smart thing is to keep the list of prioritized intentions short, memorable, and deeply aligned with what actually matters to us.
As a general rule, setting daily intentions creates too much noise and is best avoided. We absolutely do want to utilize the carefully prioritized list of intentions in our daily life – that’s the whole point. Repeating the intention at the beginning of the day is a good practice, but not sufficient. We want to keep the prioritized intentions in mind throughout the day. To work, to guide our in-the-moment decisions and choices, intentions must be easily accessed.
A reality of life is priorities change. What is most important for our character development right now will shift. As a result, prioritized intentions need to be updated and iterated on regularly. Quarterly intention setting and validation is a good practice. There is no specific magic to the three-month interval. The important part is to have your intention iteration cadence defined. The regular check-in is best scheduled between six weeks and six months. More often tends to create too much churn. Too infrequently risks keeping stale priorities that have gotten out of sync with our lives.
How Other Hand Approaches Intention Setting
There are numerous skills required to figure out what is most important for our character development right now. Not only does the skill development learning curve take time to climb, the skills themselves require time. Rushing will get you right back to where you started. Just more tired and stressed.
The Other Hand Intention Setting 101 curriculum utilizes deliberate pacing, sequenced skill development workouts, and emphasizes learning-by-doing. Think functional strength training — for your attention muscles.
Honing new skills and unlearning old habits is never easy and requires being willing to try. Other Hand’s process simplifies and streamlines the learning curve. Which makes the journey easier and more straightforward for you.
Not convinced? Fair enough. One option is to go back to your search algorithms and look for quick fixes, magic bullets, and other solutions to add to your workload and stress levels. Perhaps not the best choice, but probably better than other things you could be staring at a screen for.
Alternatively, you can do what I did when I started this journey; listen to fantastic novels exploring the intricacies and complexities of what it means to be human. Starter tip: Tolstoy and the Bronte sisters have quite a lot of wisdom to share within their delightful stories.
Or, you could give Other Hand’s Intention Setting 101 course a try. Six weeks of curated curriculum and streamlined skill training exercises to help you learn how to articulate, validate, prioritize, and implement transformative intentions. Anna Karenina optional, if still highly recommended!
