The Subversive Power of Setting Intentions: A Mindful Alternative to New Year’s Resolutions

Setting New Year’s resolutions, for many of us, is setting ourselves up for failure and self-recrimination. Research shows that the staying power of most resolutions is less than two weeks. Our ancestors have been making and breaking New Year’s resolutions for thousands of years, so we are deeply conditioned to follow suit, even as we know that we may be unlikely to follow through. The excesses of the holiday season often lead to leaner wallets, thicker waistlines, and sincere desires to redress the balance in the new year. Are these inclinations doomed from the start?

Not at all! There is good reason for optimism, thanks to neuroscientific discoveries about how the human brain works. It turns out that making resolutions to achieve our goals can be less effective than setting intentions to do so. Although setting an intention sounds wishy-washier than setting a resolution, this apparent weakness is actually a superpower in disguise. The power of an intention lies in its focus.

Resolutions vs. Intentions

A resolution can be summed up in Nike’s motto: “Just do it,” whereas an intention might be summed up as “Just be it.”

To resolve to do -- or not do -- something is to make an absolute commitment to the stated outcome. A resolution is future-oriented, focused on the destination, not the journey. A resolution is usually (but not always) predicated on the assumption that there is a problem that needs to be fixed: a bad habit that needs to be broken, weight that needs to be lost, money that should be saved. With resolutions, there is not much room for error or progress, it is all or nothing. Resolutions are focused on doing. As Master Yoda instructs, “Do or do not, there is no try.”

By contrast, intentions are focused on being. An intention is flexible and is predicated on a deep personal desire for something positive. Intentions tap into how you would like to be rather than what you think you should do. For example, one might set intentions to be healthy, happy, and helpful to others. Intentions are not prescriptive; they allow space for discovery, creativity, and growth. Intentions cast a vision, allowing room for experimentation to transform the vision into reality. Intentions invite us into a process of improvising, blazing new trails, learning as we go, and enjoying the journey.

Outcome vs. Process

A resolution defines and demands a specific outcome. An example might be “My resolution is to lose ten pounds this year.” An intention, on the other hand, defines a broader goal: “My intention is to be healthy this year.”  The intention to be healthy can include a wide variety of steps that can help achieve the objective, like eating good food, getting enough rest, drinking water, and even losing ten pounds – but in this case, losing ten pounds is not the end goal. It is simply a means to an end; part of the journey, not the destination.

Why is this important? Setting intentions rather than resolutions can alleviate unhelpful psychological pressure that often stops us in our tracks. If, at the end of the first month of diligent exercise, the scale has not budged, it is easy to give up on a black-and-white resolution like losing ten pounds. With the “grayer” intention to be healthy, however, the month’s exercise has already begun to bear fruit because we feel better, no matter what the scale says. This positive boost sends signals to the brain to keep doing what it is doing because it registers success rather than failure.

Our minds have a hard time remaining focused in the present. Because Mother Nature evolved a brain designed to keep us safe, our minds are constantly scanning for potential threats, often worrying about the future or ruminating about past failures.  Fixed resolutions reinforce this behavior: “I will lose ten pounds in the future” or “I failed to lose ten pounds in the past,” instead of “Hey! Look at me engaging in healthy behavior right now.” The satisfying realization that one is acting in alignment with one’s stated intention lights up the reward circuit in the brain, reinforcing our desire to repeat the action that led to the reward. Rather than feeling discouraged for having failed to move the needle on your fixed resolution to lose ten pounds, you are more likely to feel encouraged by noticing your healthy behavior, and motivated to keep up the good work.

Should vs. Could

Whereas New Year’s resolutions are often based on what you think you should do, intentions are based on longings of what you could be. Stating one’s intention is a positive first step in making it happen because of the way the brain functions. Daniel J. Siegel explains in his book  The Mindful Brain that “Intentions create an integrated state of priming, a gearing up of our neural system to be in the mode of that specific intention: we can be readying to receive, to sense, to focus, to behave in a certain manner.” This modern neuroscientific observation echoes the wisdom of our ancestors. The ancient Vedic text, the Upanishads, state “You are what your deepest desire is. As your desire is, so is your intention. As your intention is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny.” Intentions incline the mind and actions in the direction that you long to go. Resolutions corral the mind and actions into an outcome that you think you should reach. 

Head vs. Heart 

Resolutions are often the product of the rational thought: “Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.” (Thank you, Ben Franklin.) Intentions, by contrast, are more often rooted in the heart. In yogic philosophy, the Sanskrit word sankalpa refers to any heart-felt intention to bring out the best in oneself. Like a seed that is planted and nurtured in one’s consciousness, the sankalpa is realized over time.  The growth does not happen magically, however. An Intention needs to be brought to mind gently each day to incline one’s thoughts and actions in the direction of the intention. The thoughts and actions are like the sunshine, rain, and nutrients that help the seed grow into fruition. And just like any tender, young shoot that bravely breaks through the soil in the spring, one’s growth cannot be forced or hurried. It takes time and repetition for the brain’s neurons to fire and eventually wire so that your intentions are made manifest in your everyday life.

Seeds vs. Deeds

Whereas resolutions tend to be fixed, intentions are more flexible. They are daily, renewable, and even revisable when needed. Intentions give meaning and direction to our lives. Intentions require self-awareness about our deepest desires as well as insight about steps that we might take to align our thoughts and actions with our desires. Intentions allow space and time for the practice, learning, and growth that are essential aspects of becoming. They also require a light touch. Taking simple steps each day demonstrates your commitment to your intention. Forgetting to take a step each day demonstrates your willingness to trust the process and to begin again the next day. Small steps bring big change. As a Buddhist teaching story reminds us, “Drop by drop is a bowl of water filled.”

As you look toward the new year ahead, may you also look back at the past year, calling to mind things for which you are grateful, situations in which you felt content and at ease, and circumstances that called forth your goodness. These recollections can inform your intentions for the new year and empower you to follow Thoreau’s advice: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you have imagined.”