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I was talking to a colleague about life. She shared that she was feeling bored and under-challenged in her life. When I asked her what would make her life more purposeful, she had no idea. In fact, she had no specific goals or aspirations for growth outside of her current job as a case manager. All she knew was that she wanted more money, time to do the things she loved, and she didn’t want to go back to school. Going back to school was a plan B, in the event she could find something fulfilling.
This is heartbreaking, but it’s also common. A lot of us are feeling like our careers don’t have meaning. You are just there to chart, check the boxes, and collect a check. And on your off day, you’ll plan a fabulous vacation or buy that purse you’ve been eyeing to distract and justify why you are still hanging on to unfulfilling career aspirations.
You get out of bed in the morning, clock in for your shift, complain to your colleagues that you don’t get paid enough for all this, and then you come home and do it all again tomorrow.
But what if you could change that cycle? What if you could find a way to make your career mean something? What if you could create a healthier career and a life that you love?
As your coach, I’ll be the first to tell you that you can. If you want to create a more meaningful life, you’ll need to set yearly intentions. In this post, I’ll share my take on setting yearly intentions for a more meaningful life.
Let’s jump into it…
Take a look at last year.
Before setting any intentions, you need to reflect on the last year. I usually schedule some alone time and review my jots and journals from the prior year.
What did you spend most of your time doing? What went well? What didn’t go so well?
Taking time to reflect on your achievements and challenges, can serve as a major source of accountability and inspiration for the year ahead.
Consider your intentions for 2023 in different areas of your life.
I like to separate my yearly intentions according to different areas of my life that I’d like to focus on or level up in. Examples of these areas are business, health, relationships, and finances. When you’re thinking about each area, consider the following questions:
- What do I want my life to look like?
- How can I make it happen?
- How will this affect other areas of my life?
Make sure your intentions are measurable.
Before setting or measuring intentions, I would like for you to assess what success means to you. You own standards of success. Not your parents, friends, or society. What would make you feel most fulfilled to accomplish? Just a clue, a monetary value is not going to be the answer here.
Once you figure that out, it is from that standard that you will measure yourself.
When setting intentions, it’s best to be as specific as possible. For example, it’s not enough to say “I want a more meaningful career”. That intention cannot be broken down or measured which means you’ll be setting this goal again in 2024 lol.
A better intention would be “I will create an online course in 2023.”
Break intentions up with quarterly goals.
Quarterly goals are a good way to break up your yearly intentions. If my intention is to create an online course in 2023, an example of my goal would be “I will complete my course outline by April 2023”.
Reflect on your progress throughout the year.
It’s important to reflect on your progress throughout the year. This will help you learn from your experiences, hold yourself accountable, adjust your goals, and celebrate your wins.
If you can relate to my colleague (from earlier in the email), I invite you to complete these steps to help you move towards finding meaning in your life. This year I am continuing my personal growth journal and building my business. I shared my intentions on Instagram. Click here to watch.
