Setting intentions for your day is probably a concept you have never heard of or never thought much about if you have heard it before. Here, I will explain it to you… When you set intentions for your day, you are deciding on how your day is going to go, you are deciding on how your mood will be and intending to stick to it despite what will happen throughout the day.
Now why is this important? This helps you become aware of the fact that you are in control of what happens in your life. Just this short daily activity can improve your lifestyle and your perspective in life overall. Of course you are not completely in control of every thing that happens but you are in control of how you respond to it and that’s what setting intentions is all about.
This does not necessarily include your to-do list. Setting intentions is more of a mental thing, you do not have to actually physically do anything, just discipline yourself, harness your mind, your thoughts and control your reactions.
Start here — when you wake up in the morning, try not to snooze the alarm because this will ultimately result in you rushing to get ready and not really focus on yourself. All you need is 5 minutes, just 5 minutes to set the mood for your day. It’s almost natural to go straight to our phones the moment we open our eyes but avoid that temptation and just lay there. I either lay down in bed for a while after stopping the alarm or I set my intentions in the shower.
Play out your day in your head as though it has already happened — everything in fine detail, from what you are going to have for breakfast, how you are commuting to work, what you will listen to, who you have to interact and engage with throughout the day, all that. Now think about how you want to feel the whole day. Really, do you want to take everything lightly and laugh off any inconvenience? Do you want to speak your mind or not speak much at all?
Think about the energy you intend to attract today and let that marinade in your head. If you want to attract luck, be specific on what kind of luck to attract — see yourself finding a $10 note on the floor as you are walking to work or school. It might not happen exactly like that, but that alone can increase your chances of getting lucky in general.
What is the overall theme for the day? Do you intend to focus on gratitude, on not being bothered by anything anyone says or on making connections with like-minded people at an event you are going to? Visualize it and stick to that feeling you have already.
What’s absolutely important when setting intentions is believing in how your day is going to go. Being honest with yourself too. If you have been dreading the upcoming day because you have an assignment due, work tasks to handle and other responsibilities, you won’t necessarily expect to have a good day. So be honest about it, it’s going to be a long day, a bad one maybe and decide on how you going to deal with it.
Setting daily intentions for yourself is also to avoid letting colleagues and strangers decide on how your day will go. It’s about taking control of your life, managing your energy and discipling yourself. At the end of the day, do a mental reflection on how everything went. How your mood was, what might’ve ticked you off, how you responded to any inconvenience. This is not a chance for you to criticize your actions but more so to acknowledge and be aware of what you actually can control – your thought, your words and your actions.
Like I had mentioned earlier, this is a form of self-improvement. There is no right or wrong intention, the only goal is to stick to it and to keep it in mind throughout the day even when things do not go as you had planned in the morning when you played everything out. You always have to keep an open mind and be kind to yourself too. It’s the best you can do for yourself and your mental health.
1 Comment
I found myself unintentionally doing this. It was a subconscious decision I made but the impact it had was immense.
Thank you for sharing this. Now I want to be intentional about it so that I remain consistent.