ThrivingTheFuture – Episode 12 – Achieve Your Intentional Life Goals, Not Futile Resolutions

Why resolutions fail, but living an intentional life will succeed

Intentional Life vs. Resolutions

It is several weeks into the New Year and statistics, and personal experience, show that most of you have given up on your resolutions. That’s because you are approaching it as a task and not adopting it as a mindset and core identity.

A resolution is “something I’m going to do.” An intention is “what I am doing.”

Identity

“The problem with a resolution is that you are not changing your identity, you are just changing an outcome.”
Perpend

Example: A new diet is a new identity –
- When you start a diet, you say, for example, “I am on the Paleo diet”. This implies that you can get off the Paleo diet or you can have a cheat day. You start compartmentalizing and bargaining.
- Taking an example from the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) diet: you have to adopt it as your identity to maintain it. Most of the people on AIP have a food allergy or get sick from certain foods.
- Instead of saying “I am on the Paleo diet”, adopt it as your identity. “I am Paleo”. Those who succeed at this see it trickle down to their friends, who know that they will have to have or make alternatives for this person at their dinner, party, or get-together.
Change your identity – “I am this now”.
- Example: Don’t say “I am going to start a garden this year”. Say: “I am a gardener. I am a homesteader.”
- Do it, not just say it.
- Take real steps toward it.
Plan your life with intention so you are moving toward that goal.