The Crucial Difference Between Intentions and Goals

One is the destination, while the other is the roadmap

Photo: Estee Janssens/unsplash.com

“Intention” is a word we hear a lot. At the beginning of gym or yoga classes, we’re prodded to “set an intention.” Once I heard a Slogan: “Nothing without intention. Do nothing without intention.”

But what does it mean to have an intention, anyway?

Deepak Chopra writes, “Intention is the starting point of every dream. It is the creative power that fulfills all of our needs, whether for money, relationships, spiritual awakening, or love.” To me intention is about moving to the driver’s seat of my own life. So often, it seems, we’re half-aware passengers, complaining when the road gets bumpy and impatiently asking, “Are we there yet?” when we feel we should have already reached a certain destination, even though we have no idea what that destination looks like.

But what I hear from a lot of people is that while they would like to set intentions for themselves, they’re unsure what those intentions should be.

Intentions versus Goals

Our confusion is often tied to the confusion over whether intentions are synonymous with goals. The answer is not black or white. Both intentions and goals influence what happens in our lives. However, goals tend to be finite points on a map. They’re future-tense. They’re S.M.A.R.T.

 (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic / Relevant, Time-bound).

Here are some examples of goals:

Become a pediatrician within four years.

Get a promotion at work by the end of the year.

Purchase own House, Car, Assets.

Because of the specificity and measurability of goals, not achieving them is linked to the feeling of failure.

Intentions, on the other hand, shift your focus to the present. The outcome is often a feeling or understanding or a new state of being, versus a measurable accomplishment.

Intentions look more like:

To create with confidence, authenticity, and purpose.

To open myself up to the possibility of falling in love again.

To effectively communicate and to be receptive to new ideas and information.

Intentions are more open-ended and expansive than goals. They’re what shape the energy that you bring to your internal and external worlds. And because you have more direct control of the outcome of your intentions, they don’t have the same potential for failure as goals.

I like to think of goals as the destination, while intentions are the roadmap. Having the wrong intention, or not having an intention at all, can alter where you end up. And even if you do reach your destination, if you didn’t actively set an intention before getting there, you may find that you feel differently at the end of your journey than you had imagined.

We move with excitement and passion when we like something, and we move sluggishly and aloofly when we don’t. Intentions are a way for us to tap into what feels good. They help us align with the person we want to be based on our truest essence versus external expectations.

So start today. Start making intentions for your day. For your meetings. For a difficult conversation, you need to have. For the project, you’re thinking about starting. And ultimately, for your life.