How To Set A Daily Intention

Let's talk about setting daily intentions.

And in this video,

I'm actually going to explain to you how setting a daily intention actually works and to do it in a way that is really effective for you.

Because a lot of people,

When they're setting intentions,

Set intentions like this.

My intention is peace or I choose love.

And while that might sound good and positive and spiritual,

If your intention is too vague,

Too pretty.

Too basic or too disconnected from your actual life,

It can disappear the second something stressful happens.

It's like you choose peace at 8 a.

M.

And then by 8.

07 somebody cuts you off in traffic or your kid spills something all over the floor or your boss sends an email with the subject line urgent and suddenly peace has left the building,

Honey,

Okay?

And so the question here is not just about like what uplifting or positive or spiritual word or phrase sounds good.

The question.

For setting your intention is,

What will actually help me in my life today?

What will help me become the version of myself that I actually want to be today?

And your daily intention doesn't even need to sound impressive or all that special.

It just needs to be useful.

Because the purpose of a daily intention is not to say something lovely and positive in the morning and then barely think about it at all all day.

A daily intention is way more important than that.

It gives your life and your day direction.

It is a simple.

And clear way of telling your mind what to do.

Your body and your nervous system.

This.

Is what I want to be practicing today.

This is what I wanna be up to today.

And the purpose of a daily intention is to give yourself.

Something clear that you can come back to when real life starts happening.

So today,

I want to give you a simple three-step process so you know exactly how to do this.

You ready?

Let's start.

Step one.

Is to check in with what's real.

Check in with what's real is step one.

And so before you set your intention,

You just have to pause for a moment and ask yourself for real.

How am I actually feeling today?

What am I carrying?

What kind of day am I actually walking into?

What kind of responsibilities do I have in front of me today?

Because the thing is,

Your intention has to meet your real life.

They have to intersect.

So if you wake up exhausted,

Your intention that day should probably not be,

Today I'm gonna dominate everything and get everything done on my to-do list and be super inspiring and big.

This is not what's gonna work on a day that you're exhausted.

So maybe instead,

On that exhausted day,

Your intention is.

.

.

Today I choose to move gently and take one next step.

And if you wake up anxious,

Your intention probably shouldn't be,

Today I'm going to break through all my fears.

That's just not how being human actually works.

Maybe on the day you wake up anxious,

Your intention is something like,

Today I choose to return to my breath and be kind to myself.

When this old anxiety.

Shows up and wakes up again.

If you wake up overwhelmed,

Maybe your intention is,

Today I choose to just do one thing at a time.

So step one of your intention setting is all about getting clear on what's happening in your real life so that when you set an intention,

It can properly intersect with what's really going on in your world.

This is how we bring this personal growth work down into the real 3D world.

And so step one is not about starting with who you think you should be.

It's about starting with what's real,

And then we can expand from there.

And that leads me,

Right now,

To step two.

And step two is choosing one clear energy or one clear way of being for your intention for the day.

I'm going to say that again.

One,

One clear energy,

Not 10,

One.

And this is where people make their intentions way too complicated.

They say things like,

No,

Today I choose peace and joy and abundance and confidence and patience and productivity and perfect hydration.

Like,

No,

You have to pick one,

One quality,

One way of being,

One direction,

One energy you want to practice that day.

And so maybe it's patience,

Maybe it's courage.

Focus.

Maybe it's honesty or self-respect.

Maybe it's ease.

Maybe it's rest.

Maybe it's today I choose to be productive.

While taking care of myself.

That's such a great intention because it's simple and grounded and clear,

And it tells your mind what to practice.

So in that case,

You're not just practicing productivity,

You're practicing productivity while taking care of yourself.

That's the difference.

And so step three.

Third step of our process.

Is to connect your intention to a real moment that's coming that day.

Connect your intention to a real moment that's coming that day.

And this is the part that most people skip.

They set the intention,

But they don't think ahead into their day of when they're gonna actually need to use that intention in their life.

And this is why the intention disappears after the first few minutes in the morning.

So once you choose an intention,

Which you'll do in step two,

Then you wanna ask yourself,

Where will I probably need this today?

Where's this gonna show up and be important for me to practice in my life today?

Because your intention is not just for the peaceful moment when you set it before real life gets to you.

Your intention is for the moment you get stressed.

Your intention is for the moment you get triggered.

The moment you forget,

The moment your old patterns try to take over,

That's when your intention counts.

That's how an intention actually becomes useful,

Because it gives you something to practice in the real moment.

And that's because when you close this practice that we're doing right now,

Life is going to bring you what life brings.

And even though we might want to try to,

We can't control it all.

And so,

When we're in our real life.

The meetings might run late.

The urgent text might come in.

Your plans might change.

Your emotions might surprise you.

Your trauma might come up.

But your intention.

Stays steady throughout the day.

And instead of starting your day asking,

How can I make today perfect?

If you want to set a real intention,

You want to ask,

What energy do I want to bring into whatever happens today?

Is daily intention setting.

It's three steps.

Check in with what's real.

Choose one energy or way of being as your intention for the day.

And then connect it to a real moment that's coming that day.

And please remember this.

Your intention does not have to be poetic.

Okay,

Not at all.

It just has to be something you can remember when life gets messy.

Like,

I will do one thing at a time.

I choose honesty over people-pleasing.

I will practice listening before I react.

Today I choose to stay true to myself.

Things like this,

So that you can really practice something in real time.

The sky's the limit here for you.

So with whatever you choose,

Today.

I want you to just ask yourself in this moment.

What's real.

What's real for you today?

How are you showing up right now?

And then pick an energy and pre-plan some places that you'll be able to practice it.

And if you want to go through an actual guided meditation practice to set your daily intention with me,

I have one of my favorite daily intention guided practices that I've ever done here for you so that you can go through it together.

You can just find it here on my page.

And the fact that you're here listening to this video and you made it to the end means you're already doing amazing work on your life.

So I just honestly want to thank you for showing up as a person who is attempting to be more intentional in your life.

This will ripple out deeply into the world.

I love you.

This is Justin Michael Williams,

And I'll see you in the next practice.

Bye for now.