Setting Your Goals and Intentions
“Your goals are the road maps that guide you and show you what is possible for your life.” – Les Brown
When you go someplace you’ve never been, you most likely use GPS to get you there. The same can be said for your life direction. Setting goals and intentions is an important part of creating a map of where you want to be. Not only should you write them down but putting them into visual form such as a vision board helps you see what you want to accomplish.
It’s important to set goals for what ever it is you wish to accomplish. We’ve all done it in some form. Maybe it was a small goal, like when we were trying to lose 5 pounds before summer vacation.
Most people write their goals down to be finished with them. Then, they either lose them, or tuck them away and don’t look at them again. If they do run across them, they read the goals infrequently.
A better option is to create a visual platform. Visualizing your goals is best done by creating a visual representation of the goal that shows exactly what your goal will look like when it is accomplished. To do this, a vision board is the answer.
A vision board is the visual map of your goals that reminds you why you’re doing certain things and what you will have once you achieve your goal. It’s a visual snapshot of your future.
Before you jump into cutting out pictures and pasting them on paper, you want to have a clear idea of what your goals and intentions are. You might find pictures of puppies and cut those out. However, is it your goal to have six dogs? If not, better leave the image in the magazine.
You’ll want to assess how you will be using your vision board to help you reach your goals. Vision boards can be made for specific areas of your life or as an overall theme for your life.
Throughout this guide, we’ll look at how to set your goals and intentions, even if you aren’t sure what you want yet. It includes tips and ideas to create clear goals.
Set Intentions for Your Vision
“Your brain will work tirelessly to achieve the statements you give your subconscious mind. And when those statements are the affirmations and images of your goals, you are destined to achieve them!” – Jack Canfield
Before you begin creating your vision board, you should know what you want to focus on. You should have an idea of what you want your life to look like in the future. Your vision board can show a big picture view of life or it can be focused on a specific area.
Begin with an intention. Visualize what you want. Close your eyes and tune in to what you want. Imagine your life a year from now. Where are you? What goals have you achieved? What is your day like?
Make a list of all the areas of your life that are important. Write out your initial thoughts then go back and determine what really excites you most. This will help you focus on what is most important to you and what you want to achieve most.
You want to determine what the purpose of your vision board is. For example, if you want to focus on your business, you’ll want to take it to the next level. Focusing on the business goals needed to reach that level would be the intention of your vision board.
Like many people, you may have several areas of your life where you want to make changes and meet goals. You could use a specific board to focus on a particular, life area, or related topics, such as health, career, spirituality, and relationships. The intention of your vision boards would include an overall picture of your life areas that includes each of area that is meaningful to you.
If you’re having trouble coming up with your desires, consider the following to help you get a clear idea of what intentions and purposes you have for your vision boards. This will help you decide what you want to include. Give yourself permission to dream big. Don’t worry about how you will make it happen at this point. Just identify your current dreams and needs. Then, revisit older dreams that you gave up. Decide if you’re still interested in them. If so, add them to the list.
Choose 1-5 major areas of your life where you want or need to make improvements and positive changes. Personal and business/career might be the top two areas to consider in the beginning. Use an outline format to help you sort the different areas and related topics. Add major areas and/or sub-topics as you think of them to streamline the process. Here is a brief example of how your ideas might look on your list outline:
I. Personal Life Areas
A. Personal Health
1. Physical Health
2. Other Health
B. Relationships
1. Family
2. Friends
II. Business or Career Life Areas
A. Skills/Training
B. Biz Relationships
What does your life look like once you’ve achieved your goal? Really feel into your sense – what colors, mood, feelings, emotions, sights, sounds, touch or taste does it have? Who is with you?
- What character traits do you want to develop or enhance?
- What have you always wanted to do, be, or have but never had the courage to do? Is there some place you want to travel to or live? Do you want to conquer some fear such as fear of heights?
- What categories will you include? For an overall vision board that covers all areas of your life, set a goal in some of these categories.
- The Home
- Finances/Wealth
- Family Life
- Spirituality
- Bucket List
- Education
- Volunteering
- Career
- Business
- Skills
- Travel
- Creativity/Artistic
- Emotional Health
- Physical Health
- Romance/Relationships
- Hobbies
- Self-Care
- Attitude/Traits
- What brings you joy? What would you enjoy doing?
- What or who do you wish you had more time for in your life?
- What type of person do you want to be?
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- Conscientious
- Agreeable
- Open
- Outgoing
- Confident
- Caring
- Creative/Artistic
Setting the intentions for your vision board is exciting and fun. It helps you clarify your focus on what you want more of in your life. This helps you set clear goals and use the right images on your vision board for those goals.
How to Set SMART Goals
“Clarity of vision is the key to achieving your objectives.” – Tom Steyer
Now that you know the results you want and your intentions for clearly achieving them, its time to begin developing and setting your goals. Focus on the feeling you want to experience once you achieve your goal. This might be security, happiness, strength, love, peace, joy, creativity, accomplished, successful. Then determine the actions you need to take to guide your course down the road to success.
The first step is to create your goals. Use the SMART method of goal setting for this. You already know that setting goals is necessary for success. However, using the SMART principles for setting your goals helps you succeed sooner. Use this formula to create your SMART goals:
Specific
The more you can detail down your goal, the better it is. Get as focused and well defined as you can. Instead of saying “My goal is to lose weight,” a better, clearer statement would be “I want to lose 20 pounds so I can keep up with my kids.”
Getting down to the specifics of your goal can be achieved by using the 6-W’s of journalism: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
- The who is you and the people who need to be involved in the process.
- The what is what you want to achieve. Get very detailed here.
- The when is the date or time frame you will achieve the goal.
- The where could be your location when you achieve the goal or where you expect to see a result of some type.
- The why is the reason you want to achieve the goal. Why will it be beneficial?
- The how is how will you get there or the steps you will take to achieve the goal.
Measurable
Include specific amounts. Avoid using vague words. Exchange words like “better,” “more” or “happy,” for example, with words that specifically make you feel this way. Think about what the vague word means to you and how it affects your future. Would “be in better shape,” help you understand and know when you’ve reached your goal of better shape? Better shape than what?
Instead, make the goal something more specific. “I want to lose 20 pounds and become flexible so I can play with my kids without becoming winded,” is a more measurable goal with specific words.
Attainable
Set your goal so that it is actually achievable. Yes, you want to challenge yourself, but saying you will lose 20 pounds in 3 weeks isn’t a reality. It will only frustrate you and lead to disappointment if you set your goal to high for the time frame.
When determining a reasonable time frame for your goal think about how much time you have in a day to devote to working on your goals. Then set your goal accordingly. A more realistic goal then would be, “I will lose 20 pounds in 6 months.”
Relevant
Is your goal relevant to the direction you want to go in your life? Does it align with your strengths and values? Do you have the talent and experience to (or can you attain them) to reach the goal? Is the goal worthwhile to you? Is this goal moving your forward?
Consider these questions when you are setting your goals. For example, if your goal is to become flexible and healthier within 6 months, setting a goal to eat out more might not be relevant to your main goal.
Time-bound
Your goal needs a time based limit or deadline. Without one, you’ll be tempted to procrastinate or ignore your goals altogether. It’s easy to get distracted by tasks that aren’t in your goal plan. These tend to impede meaningful progress. Your time limit depends on the goal. You’ll want to allow a longer time frame for some goals based on the information you need to collect and tasks you need to complete. Just be sure to keep it realistic an effective for your needs.
The specific SMART goal setting formula should be applied to your vision board. Begin creating a vision statement that motivates and resonates with you, personally. Play around with different statements until you find the one that feels right. Consider all of your life areas.
Make your goal or vision statement specific. A general statement like “I want to have a better life” isn’t as powerful as one that includes specifics like, “I want to live in the mountains, writing books, and knowing I’ve made an impact on others.”
Consider focusing on a single goal for your first board. Once that one is created, you can create other boards for each of the major areas of your life. Depending on your preferences, you can make one specific to your business life and one for your personal life. However, be aware that there may be goals that crossover into multiple life-areas. Choose one board where the goal will be “housed.” This helps you refrain from running
Using the SMART formula for setting your goals helps you get specific on what you want in what about of time. Digging deep into your feelings, wants, and the time frame that is actually achievable allows you to know exactly what you want to achieve.
Three Categories for Goals
Another thing you want to consider when setting your goal is identifying the type of goal you are reaching for. Goals can be categorized into three main categories.
- Time Goals are goals that are either short-term or long-term. Short-term goals are quicker to achieve than long-term goals, obviously. These goals are something you want to achieve in the near future. They are anywhere from a day to up to a year’s time. Longer-term goals are any length of time after one year. A good rule is to create long-term goals in ranges of 1, 3, 5, and 10 years.
- Focused goals point to the big goals, the things that are life-changing achievements you want to accomplish. Most of these goals will fall into the long-term range. They might have several steps that have to be accomplished along the way. For example, if your goal is to “I will fly my own plane across Alaska within three years” one of the steps you would have to achieve first is to learn to fly a plane, get your pilots license, and buy a plane.
- Topic-based goals are goals that are related to specific areas of your life. They could be an aspect of your career, your finances, or your personal life. For example, you might have a career goal to “be promoted to management by the end of the year” while your personal goal might be to “run a 5K race within 6 months.”
Most likely, your goals will land in more than one of the categories in any combination of the categories. Whichever categories your goal falls into, they need to be specific and resonate with you while still being achievable.
Goal Examples
Now that you know how to create a goal, here are some examples of both broad and general goals, as well as specific examples to help you get started.
Business/Career Life
- I want to start a business
- I will sell handcrafted jewelry through Etsy.com within 6 months.
- Within a month, I will set up my Etsy shop to sell handcrafted jewelry that will allow me to benefit financially from my hobby. Within 6 months, I will have an inventory of 90 pieces of jewelry and will sell a minimum of 8 pieces per week. I will build customer relationships through referrals, networking, and word of mouth.
- I want to write a book.
- I will write one chapter a month.
- I will research, write daily, and find a publisher for my book.
- I will write a 150-page book on self-care by writing five pages a week. My book will be completed within 10 months. I will have my book edited and self-published in a year.
Personal Life
- I want to be healthier.
- I will eat more fruit and vegetables, cut out processed food, and eat less meat.
- Within 6 months, I will be only eating unprocessed and whole foods.
- I will run a marathon.
- I will run a 10K marathon over the next 6 months.
- I will win the local marathon (Name) within the next 3 years (year).
Use these examples as a starting point on creating goals that resonate with you. Goals should be personal, specific, time-bound, and make you feel good about yourself, as well as see yourself as being power-filled and successful.
Other Things to Consider
Here are a few other things and ideas to consider when setting your goals and intentions for your vision board. The tips here give you what you need to remember as you move through the process.
- Focus on the WHY or benefits behind your goals. Choose images based on your why instead of just material benefits.
- Set your intentions based on what you want to achieve. If the goal of your vision board is to be healthy, pasting images of specific healthy food, phrases on how you will feel when you’re healthy, images of the exercises you’ll do and people enjoying themselves are perfect for your board.
- Put your vision board where you will see it every day. It should remind you of your reasons and the benefits for making changes. This helps keep you on track to achieve your goals and reach your desired way of living.
- It can be helpful to incorporate things that contrast with your positive goals. In short, include things that also remind you of what you no longer want in your life. You can do this in an unobtrusive way, such as on the back of your vision-image. For example, if you constantly worry and have negative thoughts, write them on the back of the images, so you don’t focus on the negative too much.
- When you complete this side, draw an X through the whole thing. As an alternative, create a “Let It Go” board. Once you have truly let something go for a specific amount of time, take that item off the board, and trash it. This act of letting go helps you to make room for the new habits, thoughts, people, and things to come into your life.
- An alternative to creating your list on the back of your “Let It Go” vision board, write out your specific goals. Try to keep it short and sweet so you can remember the goals even when they aren’t right in front of you to see.
- State each goal as a positive, similar to the way you write affirmations, using “I am” phrasing. On your vision board use positive phrases, quotes, and images for your goal reminders and motivation.
- In your goal, include as many important details as possible by including times, dates, amounts, and other elements you need to track or keep in mind as you make progress. Be sure to include them on your vision board to help you see how far you’ve come and about how far you have left to go.
- Prioritize each goal. Work on one goal at a time so you don’t get overwhelmed by juggling too many goals. Prioritize and sequence which goals you’ll tackle first and foremost. Try to keep this low-key and simple to maintain the joy and enthusiasm factors, which help you make steady progress.
Use these tips to set up your vision board so your goals align with what you want to achieve and how you want your life to change for the better.
Setting Goals & Intentions
Setting your goals and intentions is the most important step in creating a vision board. Knowing what you want to achieve; how you plan to accomplish it, how your life will benefit, and how you will know when you achieve each goal is essential to your success. These are key elements to creating a vision board that inspires and motivates you to keep making progress.
Here are a few key points to remember as you think about creating your vision board for maximum effectiveness and ultimately, your success.
- Goal setting is important part of creating a vision board. Without integrating your SMART goals, you’re just creating a collage of things you might want.
- Taking time to think about and develop your goals helps you decide what you want to achieve in every area of your life. In addition, it gives you the opportunity to envision what each successfully met goal looks like to you.
- When you set your goals, you must prioritize what is most important to attaining your success. In addition, this process enables you to eliminate things that don’t fully support achievement of the goal you set.
- Goal setting helps motivate you when you are excited about getting started, you’re not sure where or how to begin, have lost your interest or enthusiasm, feel discouraged by a hurdle, doubt yourself, are tired of trying, discover a new reason to keep making progress, and in many other situations.
- Setting goals builds your self-confidence as you make progress and achieve your goals. When you are able to see the progress you make, you become more confident in your skills and abilities. Every bit of progress you make, even if it occurs at slower pace than anticipated, is still progress! This encourages you to keep trying, which is actually the key to your overall success.
- Setting goals helps you to identify what works and what needs to be adjusted. You may feel discouraged but realistically, you learn how to go with the flow and develop your flexibility, which also leads to being more resilient. Here is a little secret for you. All successful people are very resilient. Work on it.
Begin by setting your overall lifetime goals. Then, set smaller goals in specific timelines like 5-year, 3-year, 1-year, 6-month, 1-month. Break your goals down into smaller goals you need to achieve in order to reach your lifetime goals.
Once you have your goals set, start thinking about the types of things you want to use to represent them. Will you use images of specific things, words or phrases, quotes or a combination of items?
Next, you want to determine the intention of your vision board as it relates to your goals. Will it be for one specific area of your life such as your health or finances? Will it be an overall picture of your life?
Finally, start gathering your supplies to create a vision board that represents what you want to accomplish. You want it to inspire you every time you look at it. Most of all, when setting your goals and designing your vision board, have fun and let your imagination have free reign on what your life could be like.
Setting Your Goals and Intentions Worksheet
Your goals are the roadmap to how you want your life to be. Before you create a vision board, you need definitive goals regarding what you want to accomplish. This worksheet helps you develop and enhance these specific goals.
Set Intentions for Your Vision Board
What is the purpose of your vision board, as it relates to your goals? What goal or areas of life are you working on in each board?
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Realistically, describe how you view your life now. However, most importantly, include things that you want to change, as you go through life.
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On the flip side, describe things in your day-to-day life that that brings you joy, excites you, inspires you, or keeps you going, when you feel like giving up.
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Envision your “future life.” What does your life look like once you’ve achieved your goals? Delve into what you want your life to look like at several stages. Consider creating a “next year” view, as well as 5, 10, 25, and 50-year views. Use your senses, desires, and emotions to help you visualize and mentally anticipate how your achieved goals enhance and change your future life for the better.
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Which character traits or qualities do you want to develop or enhance?
- ambitious
- approachable
- attentive
- bi-lingual
- caring
- confident
- creative
- decisive
- dependable
- fair
- forgiving
- funny
- honest
- inspiring
- loyal
- organized
- patience
- persistent
- positive
- productive
- professional
- punctual
- resilient
- resourceful
- self-disciplined
- self-reliance
- skillful
- supportive
- thankful
- trustworthy
- versatile
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Identify each trait you chose and tell why you chose it. This is your “why.”
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Why – Benefit / Motivation
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What categories will you include? For an overall vision board that covers all areas of your life, set a goal in some of these related categories and sub-categories.
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Setting Your Goals and Intentions Checklist
Your goals provide the roadmap for how to achieve the life you want. Before you create a vision board, you need clear goals on what you want to accomplish. This checklist helps you remember the steps you need to take to create your unique, specific goals.
Intentions for Your Vision Board
I have considered these things when identifying my vision board intentions.
- I participate in activities that refocus my thoughts on my intention
- I made a list of all the important areas of my life.
- I have identified the purpose of my vision board and focused on specific areas.
- I have developed a vision of how my future will look, after I achieve my goal.
- I thoughtfully selected the character traits I want to develop or enhance.
- I have identified things that I’ve always wanted to be or have.
- I have added categories to my vision boards.
- I have identified life areas where I want to devote more time.
- I have determined the most important things that bring me joy in my life.
- I have chosen the character traits I want to develop and implement in my life.
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Setting Goals
I have considered these things when setting my SMART goals.
- I made things specific using details and defined clarity using the 6-w’s.
- I ensured goals are measurable by incorporating a specific amount needed.
- I double-checked to make sure my goals are realistically attainable.
- I verified that the goals are relevant to achieving the vision.
- I included a time-bound element that provides a set time frame to work within.
- I used the “be specific” rule to create images for my vision board.
- I created a vision statement that has deep meaning for me.
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Goals Categories
I have considered and applied these tips or principles to create goal categories.
- I have created short-term and long-term goals, as needed.
- I included focused goals, which are important to making changes and the “big picture” life goals.
- I developed specific topic based goals to appropriate areas of my life, as needed.
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Other Things to Consider
I have examined my goals to ensure the goals are relevant, accurate, realistic, effective, and thoroughly formed.
- I know the “WHY” behind each of the goals I added.
- I set my intentions based on the achievement or the results I want.
- I positioned my vision board in an area where it is easily seen.
- I use a planner regularly to stay organized while planning the board.
- I have created a “Let It Go List” of things I no longer want in my life.
- I have created each goal and intention using positive phrases, quotes, and images, which remind, inspire, and motivate me to take action.
- I have prioritized each goal or intention by its overall importance to my success.
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