How to THRIVE in 2020 with Intention Setting!

The Awakened Corporate and Conscious CEO: My Process to Intention Setting & a Word of the Year!

The day after Christmas, I went to a location outside Denver and essentially locked myself up in a cabin for a couple days to focus on my intention and goal setting for 2020. Why, because I want to THRIVE in the New Year (more on that!). I make time to do this yearly and I find it SO therapeutic & a great way to really give myself space to see what I want in the year ahead.

I’ve done this for years now, and I find that it really sets the pace for me moving forward because progression is everything. If we feel stuck, we feel unhappy.

I also like to review the past year and see what changes, shifts and intentions have manifested in whole or in part. (you are not a failure if all your intentions haven’t come to fruition, but I guarantee you’ve moved even an inch forward in them and/or you’ll see what shifts occurred or why that intention may no longer matter….)

I received a number of comments that you BEauties don’t know where to start with this process, so I have laid out my personal steps here. It may seem overwhelming, but if you give yourself the space, it’s super rewarding and it will FLOW more easily than you may think. I’m going to dive straight into it as it will be lengthy!

Step 1: UNWIND

First, give yourself the loving space to UNWIND. It’s so hard to dive into intention setting when you’re wound up from the day’s events, work or general life pressures. Especially post holidays. Seriously.

Ideally, give yourself a day to unwind – and create space. Do all the self-care during this day that makes you feel relaxed and peaceful. For me, it’s hiking with the babies, making a nice dinner, not rushed, having some wine, reading a new book while listening to some peaceful music. Yes, your DESERVE to do this.

While this part of my write-up is short – it’s CRITICAL to making sure you can be open to the process.

Step 2: GIVE YOURSELF QUIET SPACE

For me, I really try to stay somewhere for 2 nights. Being at my house is hard because as a business owner, I get pulled into thinking “Oh I need to just do this for 5 minutes” and I’m not 100% focused. If you have kids, definitely try to get away from them if you can or have them be watched so you’re not interrupted. Go sit at your favorite coffee shop ALL day long (and the next 😉), set up a tent in your backyard and hideout there.

Whatever you can do to give yourself the space, which will be totally uninterrupted is essential. I choose to go to a cabin where I can cook my own food, bring the dogs, and no one I know is around me. But you choose whatever inspires you.

Bring to your creative space a few things: A notebook, markers, construction paper, pens, whatever it is that will make you feel most inspired and creative. It may just be typing on your computer or a small notebook. DON’T FRET THIS. For me, I love writing it out and designing. It’s probably the ONLY thing I prefer on paper in my entire life. I’m not an artist and you don’t have to be either. But if you are, wow, I can’t wait to see what you’ll create!

Step 3: CHOOSE A WORD OF THE YEAR

This is to be your mantra, theme, word that  you will march to for 2020.

The reason I always set a word for the year is because I like to hold myself accountable to it as I make decisions or choices. For example, in 2019 my word of the year was FEARLESS. When I would make a key decision, I would ask myself: “Is this choice a FEARLESS decision or is it FEARFUL?” This helps keep me in check on what I really want out of the year.

For 2020, my theme/word of the year came to me a few weeks ago and I recently wrote a post on this. My word for the year is THRIVE. Once I select my word for the year, I then detail out how it LOOKS and FEELS to THRIVE.

I literally close my eyes, and see myself THRIVING in the ways I want to – be that at Just BE Kitchen, in love/relationships, in finances, etc. This could and almost very well should, bring you to tears. That emotion behind really seeing and feeling what your word means to you brings forth the manifestation so much faster.

Write it out. Write down all the ways you see your self (in my case) THRIVING for 2020. Take time to do this and FEEL it.

Step 4: Setting Your Intentions

IF you’ve set intentions in previous years, you can review those now. BUT, don’t get hung up on being able to “check off” what was and wasn’t “done.” Remember you can still achieve your intentions in ways that may not necessarily be as detailed as you originally considered.

If you haven’t done this before (or even if you have), here’s how I start intention setting so it doesn’t seem overwhelming.

I choose a few “buckets” to put my intentions into. For example, you can choose buckets for Family, Relationships, Financial Abundance, Health, Love, Fun, Growth, Career  – YOU choose what works for you. This year, I created 5 separate buckets to categorize my intentions. I probably wouldn’t do more than 6 so it’s not overwhelming but you do what’s best for you.

Now, here’s the guts of this process.

Go through each bucket one by one and think of what you intend to achieve. But instead of writing the intention as a “To Do” list – write the intention as if it’s ALREADY happened! So, if you want to be debt free, instead of writing: “Pay off all debt in 2020” try writing…”Being completely debt-free gives me such a powerful sense of freedom!”

Or if you want to spend more time with family…instead of saying: “Visit family 3x per year” try “My heart expands when I create so many new memories by spending time with family.”

By writing the intentions as if they’ve already occurred, you can’t help but feel the emotion behind the intention. And I’m not sure who said it but EMOTION sets forth MOTION.

Step 5: Drill down on the intentions for planning

Now that I have my intentions, this is where the more practical side of intention setting and planning comes into play. For example, I take a key bucket and then I determine what plans I need to put into place to help inch toward that intention. For example, if my intention is “Being completely debt-free gives me such a powerful sense of freedom!”, my “plan” may be to set up a direct withdrawal from my bank account to a credit card to pay off or I may transfer a credit card balance to a 0% interest card to help. (or both those things).

If my intention is: “My heart expands when I create so many new memories by spending time with family” then I may plan 3 weekends in advance for the year and get that organized or I may commit to a date at my house where I’ll host a reunion. You’re simply putting some INTENTIONALLY organized planning together to support your desires.

This process can take awhile because I blend it with a lot of planning and business planning. You may spend less time just getting some basic ideas out and this is also LIVE – meaning I review this portion throughout the year to ensure I’m consistently creating a plan in my life to take action towards my intentions.

Step 6: Vision Board

Admittedly, sometimes I do a vision board and sometimes I don’t. It honestly depends how much space I create for myself during the process. For 2018, I did a board, and last year I didn’t. This year, up in my cabin, I threw on some great music, poured some red wine and took 1 magazine to flip through. I pulled items from the magazine that aligned to THRIVE – my word of the year. So if I saw an image or a word that aligned to how I want to THRIVE, then I pulled it out to place on the board. There’s no structure. You can use magazine clippings, markers, write/draw pictures and images, and more! Just put something together that visually makes you smile and that you know aligns to your word of the year.

Now, BEauties, go manifest the heck out of all this! I can’t wait to hear what you come up with!!