How to Set Powerful Intentions

*Transcript is unedited (for the most part)

Gianna Diggs 0:05
You are listening to the mompreneur mindset podcast, a space where we empower you to build an aligned business. So you can spend less time on the things you think you should be doing in your business, and more time with the people you love. I am your host, Gianna Diggs. Let’s get into it.

Welcome back to the show. So in today’s episode, I want to discuss how to set powerful intentions. So this is something that I started doing pretty consistently from starting from summer of 2019. And it’s really helped me to be intentional about the things that I’m doing in my life, you know, goals I have, and also things that I’m doing in my business. And so for this episode, I’m going to walk you through my personal process that I’ve created. But of course, we’re also going to talk about the basic way of setting intentions.

And so before we begin, I want to start with, what is it like what is intention? And so the Webster Dictionary defines intention as what one intends to do or bring about.

So think about what matters to you, and how you want to live your life, right. And so when you set intentions, you keep that the most important things that you want to you want to your goals and things you want to accomplish, right, you keep them right in the front of your mind. And it definitely helps to make it easier to integrate it, integrate them into your usual routines.

So how do you set intentions, right. And so like I said, before, I’ll walk you through my process. Let’s start with the basic method. And so the first thing I want you to do is to find a quiet space, right. And so, I know this, if you’re driving, you can listen to the episode and then maybe come back to it. If you have kids around again, you can listen to it and try to do this later. Because you want to really make sure that you clear out any distractions that you have. So finding a room that you can close the door, and really just be away from your children, your spouse, anyone that’s going to really disturb you. And so, try to do this, if you do have kids or your spouse, and you maybe have a busy household like I do, to try to do this when they’re asleep. Or maybe they’re at school, they’re away from the house. And so after that, after you find your quiet space, sit down in a comfortable position, and really focus on your breath, right, and I want you to calm your mind. You can calm your mind with either prayer and meditation, anything that just helps you to just relax. And as you begin to visualize your intentions, I want you to think about your core values and your beliefs. And you can ask yourself, what happiness and success means to you. And think about what you need more of. So what do you desire? Right? How do you want to feel, use the answer to these questions as a basis for your intention. And if you want a little bit more help with their visualization process, and you really want to tap into your future, the future you and what the end what the five year you or even the next year you want, I recommend you go to episode seven, and the visualizing the future you episode. And that’ll really help you with that meditation part of the visualization part of this exercise.

And so after you’ve done that, I want you to grab a piece of paper and a pen, and then break them down. So just like just a tidbit, just the act of putting your intention into writing can really make them seem more concrete and attainable. And so you’re strengthening your sense of commitment. And it will make it easier for you to visualize your destination. And so as you clarify your intention, do, you may also notice any obstacles that you need to address in the process.

So make sure that you write your intentions in the present tense, this part is really important. And write them like you would write an affirmation as if it’s already happening. And then think about what you want instead of what you’re trying to avoid. And then finally, I want you to speak your language. Now what I mean by that is we tend to write things or think things in the way that we that we think it should be, what it should sound like how we shouldn’t set an intention, but I really want you to focus on what most resonates with you. Right and you know, maybe you like to keep it simple, right? Or maybe you prefer a more poetic message. For example, You know, maybe you like you like a little bit of a colorful language, right. And that means that maybe like to curse a little bit, right, and maybe, you know, you drop a couple F bombs every once in a while or, you know, if that’s how you speak, then writing,

I am a boss, that might not resonate with you. But if you write, I’m a badass boss, that might fit you a little bit better, right? Because that’s how you would normally speak. And it can really help you help you to see the bigger picture. And also can help you to see if you need more structure and detail in your intentions, right. And the key thing is that it’s all about you, this is all about you. It’s not about what anybody else wants, it’s about what you want. So now, let’s talk about the fun stuff, which is how I set my intention, right. And this is something that utilize it nine times out of 10 is how I will set it, I can’t say I use it all the time, because I will mention that it is a little bit time consuming. But it definitely helps me to really be intentional about my intention is that I’m setting for whether it’s for the month, whether it’s for the week, it could be a special day, like, you know, we just had because of the repeated numbers February 2 2022 just passed. And you can also you really use this for February 22 22. Because that’s also repeated numbers two two two two two.

So first step is or the first thing I do is I reflect. So I reflect on it, like I said, it could be the month, the week, the day, it’s up to you how you want to use it, but I usually do it monthly. So I reflect on the previous month by journaling and really thinking about what went well in that month. And then I joined about what I want to improve in the upcoming month. And so I’m not going to give examples for every single one. But I’m going to use this as an example. So you can see how how I process this little process that I came up with. And so for January, let’s use January for an example. In the beginning of January, I can say it didn’t really feel like a new month. Like I may have mentioned, if you’re on my email list, my daughter got stuck in Virginia with my mom she was there for she spends the week between Christmas and New Year’s with my mom that’s like their thing because my mom does not live close to us. And she got stuck with that storm that hit that area right where 95 I 95 got shut down. If you live in the US, you know what I’m talking about. And it just didn’t feel like a new month because I was dealing with her missing school and me trying to figure out how me and my fiance trying to figure out how we can pick her up. So it just didn’t feel like a new month. And also I really do feel like the energy was off because so many different planets were in retrograde if you follow astrology, right, so like the energy was just really not there for it to feel like newness, right new energy for a new year. But I really was in rest mode. And part of that is because I have some exciting news. And if you are on my email list, you already know what this is. But in July, I will be welcoming my second child, my fiancee, we are actually having a boy, we found that out this past weekend. And I’m really excited for a new baby, unexpected child, but I’m coming. This child is coming at a pivotal time in my life. And I’m super grateful for this new pregnancy. But I’ve been super tired, and I felt fatigued. And I still feel fatigued even though I just moved into my second trimester. But I just January was just really, I was still very much in rest mode. And that’s because I was and I allowed myself to rest also, I I tried to stay away from the guilt that we give ourselves as moms sometimes because I’m like I should be working on my business. I should be looking to sign up new clients. I shouldn’t be doing all these things. And the most I did was record this podcast, or edit because I had some episodes that were ready previously done. And that’s really how January went for me is that I just felt drained. And I had no energy. And there was really no newness to the new year until probably towards the end. And that’s because I went into my second trimester. And so that was like really my reflection for last month. And so now for February. I’m slowly moving out of that energy. I’m not as fatigued. Like I said, I’m in my second trimester now. And I’m slowly but surely working my way back into being present on social media and having an idea around what I want to do next.

And That’s kind of where I am right now for February is rethinking the programs that I have the programs that I want to bring forth. And you know, giving myself grace through the process. So that is my reflection slash intention for that’s the first step, right.

So then step number two is that I pick a word of the month. So, um, so I pick a word that is like a theme of the month, and I usually try to go with how I feel. And so for example, that could be you want to feel bold, disciplined at peace, kind of like whatever theme for the month is going on. Same way, how you would pick a word for the year, you can kind of break it down, and pick a word that kind of fits into the word for the year, but just what you want to feel for the month. And so number three is goals. And so I try to set two to three goals a month, and it can be personal or business or both. Now, I want to mention that this was my process a little bit prior to me joining a program that you probably heard me speak about before, which is flow 365, with Mia Moran. And within this program, we set goals for 90 days. And then we have weekly goals based off of the 90 day goals that we set. And so I’ve been kind of experimenting with this process. So it’s not perfect. But since I joined the program in September of 2021, I’ve kind of will look at the 90 day goal as like the high level goal. And then I would piece out of maybe two to three goals that I want to accomplish based off of that high level goal. And then of course, then there’s weekly goals based off of that. So that’s kind of like my process. But But that again, because I joined a new program back in September, that kind of changed that process a little bit.

And so number four is habit. So I try to set two habits that I would like to work on or start to implement each month. And usually, it’s a habit that I need to work on the most like productivity, or even, you know, trying to go to bed at a decent hour, I’m still not there yet. But um, you know, I’m working on it, right. And so it could be, it could be something that’s repetitive, right? Like something that you repeat, it could be just to read two books this month, doesn’t have to be something you think long and hard about. But I look at it as like my self development, and like what’s going to help me be a better person for March.

So then number five, is skill slash learnings. So confession time, I tend to be a hoarder of courses. I haven’t, in the past couple of months, I’ve been doing good about not paying for things that I don’t use. But I tend to look at, I like to learn, I’ve always been an eternal learner. I love learning new things. And so I like to pick a skill or ecourse that I want to work on for the month. And it can be something new that I’m learning, such as SEO, for example. Or it can be a refresher of something that I learned already. And a lot of times I try to pick something that I bought a long time ago that I never finished, or I never started and kind of start with that.

So then number six is affirmations. So also having a list of affirmations for the month that I can repeat as a mantra on the daily. And so it could, it can also that can tie into the theme, right? And just like if you, let’s say this month’s theme was like bold, right? It’s like, I am bold, right? That’s an affirmation, or I am bold in my business, I take bold action, little things like that. And I’ll set an alarm on my phone and try to remind myself to say that, Oh, you know, every few hours, and really focus on just getting myself into positive energy.

And then number seven is what I call spiritual guidance. So I set a spiritual theme for the month. And how I do that is by utilizing a Bible verse, or oracle cards or tarot cards, right? Like those are the things that you can utilize, whatever your jam is, right. I like to use oracle cards, I have about six or seven decks. And so I will lay them all out and see which one is calling me for the month. And then and just ask spirit, what to good intention to set how to move myself forward for the month, and I will pick an Oracle card from the deck that speaks to me. But like I said, you can pick a scripture, you can use your tarot cards. You can meditate it doesn’t really matter. But that’s like the last thing that I’ll do to set my intentions for the month. So yeah, I hope that you enjoyed this episode.

I’ll also have this in a blog post. So I will link this in the show notes. If it’s good to kind of see it on paper, or read it rather on the computer, but I yeah, hope you enjoy this episode. And like I said, you can use this you can use this on a monthly basis, you can use this, you know, a yearly basis, you know, you can use it however you want. Again, the point of setting intentions is just to be intentional about how you want to live your life and how you want to run your business or even if you still work a nine to five currently, how you want your your work life to go. And just staying in sticking within that energy. That’s super important for you know, the mindset of because we juggle many hats right as moms. So again, hope you enjoyed that this episode, and I will speak to you soon.

Thank you for listening to the mompreneur mindset podcast. I hope you got a lot of value out of today’s episode. If you enjoyed listening to the show, I would love it if you could subscribe and rate or review the show. Your support means the world to me. Also, if you write a review and email it to meet, you will be entered in to win a by design day a boxer head to Gianna diggs.com backslash podcast for more information

Transcribed by https://otter.ai