Resolutions Suck, Intentions Don't

It’s almost August. Did you give up on your New Year’s resolution yet or did you just swear them off altogether?

We all know how it goes. 

January 2nd of every year, the gyms are packed. We come crawling out from behind our Costco sized bag of Cheetos and Netflix binges determined to become a better version of ourselves.

Most of us decide we're going to hit the gym- even though we never did before. 
Most of us proudly exclaim that this year is going to be different-even though we said the same.exact.thing. last year.

Most of us fail. 

We Just Can’t Stick It

Really, I don't know why we act so shocked. The truth is most of us can't stick to a "plan" like that, if you even want to call it a plan at all. When something was never a habit to begin with, we watch it fall real quick to the bottom of our list of priorities. It kills me that we keep doing this to ourselves.

It gets pretty sad for us resolutioners. We start strong, determined, and motivated and then we dwindle off. The world is left with more people who feel like failures instead of successes. 
And that sucks. 

I got tired of being upset with myself. I got tired of telling myself the same old "next year" lie.

But instead of feeling defeated, I decided to find a solution to the problem. 

Problem Solved! Short Term Resolutions 

My solution is what I like to call "short term resolutions." But the nice thing is they aren't really resolutions at all. Try to think of it more as monthly intention setting.

I’m going to pick 3 to 4 things to focus on every month (things that align with my birthday intention) and work on those, but ONLY for a month.

It’s like a short term contract with myself.

See the problem is, life changes and situations change. I am not the same person today that I was when the ball dropped on New Year's Eve. I am not even in the same city now as I was then. So how the hell am I going to keep the same promise to myself? We're trying to see things too far out and it's setting us up for failure and defeat.

You know the old saying “take it day by day?” Well I’m saying, day by day but plan it month by month.

I know, that you know, this is something we ALL struggle with.

So before the month of August begins, I’m sitting down and I’m thinking about all the things I would like to cultivate for the next month. I’m thinking about my schedule, my time and all the events and possible situation that will be coming up this month and how I’m going to prepare myself to tackle them head on.

And I can’t go further than that. 

My only future plan is to revisit my plans at the end of the month. 

I'll ask myself, did the intention work for me? Was I able to make it to the yoga/spin/the gym? Was I setting myself up for success? If not-that's ok. I’ll try again the next month.

It's simple, but powerful. These short term intentions will be able to give us a taste of stability with flexibility for change in the future. Done correctly, you could end up spending a year or even a lifetime full of routines that set you up for success. 
 How cool is that?

I know I’m eager to start something that will help me achieve my goals for the next month.

What about you? Comment below and let me know if you think creating a short term intention will help set you up for that all important "me time."