With Labor Day acting as the unofficial signal of autumn’s arrival here in the United States, it’s a great time to set some intentions for the season ahead. As many of you know, when you are clear with your intentions you are more proactive about creating the kind of life you want. I don’t want you to feel like you’re struggling to keep up and catch up as you go through your day. Regularly checking in with our intentions can help you regain control and find peace.

The process of setting an intention can look very different from person to person. There’s no right or wrong way to do it. For example, while some people sit down with themselves at the beginning of a month or a quarter or a year, I don’t personally use my calendar for this sort of thing. I have noticed that right around the change of season, though, I feel a pull to look inward at what I want to create in the months ahead. 

Maybe you like to set yourself a date on the calendar. Maybe you use the fiscal quarter or the phases of the moon. Maybe you like to check in with your intentions daily (good for you!) or weekly. Maybe you prefer to set intentions just once or twice a year. However you choose to do it, setting your intentions in a way that allows you to focus on them and take action in their favor will set you up for growth and success.

Most people don’t bother to give themselves this type of clarity. They move from a place of distraction or fear instead of inspired action toward their values, dreams and goals. I know that I have often been in that category, myself, and if you’re anything like me, you’ve been there, too. If you’re there now, feeling lost or unclear, don’t worry, I’m going to talk about my intention-setting process so that I might encourage or inspire you.

First, I decide that I will be setting my intentions. Deciding doesn’t sound like much, but what this does is create a commitment to yourself. The very act of deciding to set an intention gives my non-conscious mind a task. While I go through my day, my mind begins to filter my thoughts, feelings, experiences and ideas into clear areas of potential intention. I sit back and stay open to whatever comes forward, noticing what lingers or returns again and again. I journal and note any recurring themes over the course of a few days or a week. These themes generally point me to the direction I’d like to focus my energy. You may need to meditate, journal or brainstorm to find your way to your intentions, or they might come to you after you’ve committed to their discovery.

Because I’ve taken The Passion Test a couple of times recently, I am also filtering this season’s intentions through the lens of my top five passions. You may use your own passions, personal core values or life wheel categories to set your own intentions. Again, there is no right or wrong. I will be putting my focus on a few specific aspects of life that fall underneath one or more of my passions in order to live them more fully.

Once I have these clear areas of focus, I take some time to create three intention headlines for myself. The shorter the better. I keep the number to three because a list of three things is easy to remember, and I recommend no more than three for this reason. We humans tend to overcomplicate things, but if you keep it short and simple, you’re much more likely to be successful. It also helps to write them down. Even if you never look at the words again, the act of writing out your intentions imprints them in your mind to enrich your lived experience.

With that, allow me to share my own intentions for the fall. Feel free to adopt or adapt what resonates with you as you set your own intentions. If you’d like support creating your passion statements, setting intentions or achieving your goals this fall, send me a message.

1. Take the Risk

2. Do the Work

3. Let Go

Take the Risk

I’ve been exploring some of my deeper fears and beliefs about my personal relationships lately. Opening myself up professionally and embracing the many assets that I bring to my business and client support has begun to feel more natural lately. But I’ve noticed some deeper fears in my personal friendships and close family relationships coming up. Without going into too much detail, I’ve learned that I need to break down my protective walls and risk being more vulnerable in order to share my full self and deeply connect with the people I love the most. My challenge is to risk being judged, resented, misunderstood and unsupported in order to share what’s really going on with me to the people who love me the most. It sounds like it should come easily and automatically, but it doesn’t. And it’s been more challenging than I really care to admit.

Do the Work

Doing the work means living my values every day. No excuses. If I value creativity but neglect my art and crafts, I’m off course. Nothing worth doing comes easily, and that’s especially true for living out my commitment to my personal values. The life I want to create involves showing up and doing the dirty work. I have to suck it up and embrace the mundane in order to get to the exceptional results. Starting those less glamorous tasks can be difficult. My intention is to say yes to what’s good for me when I feel like saying no. I don’t necessarily enjoy working out, but If I value my physical health, then I need to move my body. I need to push, pull, lift, walk, jump or stretch. Every single day. The reward is robust health and strength. The work happens behind closed doors and often goes unnoticed or unacknowledged. It sometimes looks like doing nothing. It’s often painful. It can feel like sitting still or going backwards. The work is frustrating and worth it. Regular, boring action is how the magic happens.

Let Go

This is both a physical and emotional intention for me. My living space and work space are often cluttered and chaotic. A messy desk doesn’t leave me tons of room for creativity. A messy table doesn’t inspire me to sit down there and connect with my family. An overwhelmed email inbox or computer drive creates a burdensome “should” in my mind every time I go looking for a file or correspondence. Setting this intention of letting go, I see myself releasing more of my physical clutter. I see myself releasing the mental and electronic clutter to make room for what’s most important and necessary to get closer to what’s coming for me. I see myself stepping back from cruise-directing my children’s lives and allowing them to step more fully into themselves as they grow. I see myself serving my family and my clients more effectively with streamlined processes in order to inspire them and change their lives. This is more exciting to me than the wedding gifts still packed up in boxes or my mom’s emails from 15 years ago. Sorry, Mom.

What intentions are you setting for the fall? Leave a comment with your thoughts, and connect with me so we can work on this together!