A Vision For The Year Ahead
How (and why) I use the practice of intention setting every year and a 2024 Intention Setting Guide + workshop for you
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Every year, around this time, I feel a buzz of possibility running through my mind. I cling onto the threshold between December and January as if it were a magical door leading me to the life of my dreams. I stay up late journaling about the things I want – the partner I have yet to meet, the podcast I keep saying I am going to start, the summers in Europe and lavish dinner parties with all of my best friends. I get clear on my vision and then I wait. I wait and wait and wait. I make the vision board, I set the intentions, I make the resolution and then I wait for that clock to strike midnight and for everything to finally change. But will it?
As the year progresses, even if I only return to my intentions every change of the season, I notice a shift. I begin living the life that I spent dreaming of solely because I took the time to think about what I wanted. I make the move, start hosting the dinner parties, and get paid for my writing for the first time in my life. January turns to June which quickly makes its way to November and I look back on the year, and the intentions I set the December prior, and they happened. Not all, but most.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane and peek inside of my intentions from 2023:
In 2023, one of my biggest intentions was to collaborate. I had ideas of how that might look: dinner parties, collaborative events and workshops, hosting a retreat with friends, starting a podcast. I had ideas but I wasn’t attached to any of them happening. Thankfully, because some of them did but others didn’t. And that’s okay. I was tuned to the intention of collaboration and I was able to look out for opportunities, experiences, and decisions that prioritized the experience of collaboration. I tapped into the new communities, I reached out to new friends and offered my hand in co-creation, and I did start hosting dinner parties through a network of global hosts. I didn’t think often of my intention to collaborate but because I set the intention at the beginning of the year, and returned to recalibrate every quarter, I was attuned to the initial focus I had set for the year ahead.
So, even though I didn’t start a podcast this year, I don’t feel like a complete failure because I know the practice of intention setting is less about the actual achievement of a task but rather, the embodiment of the intention. What specifically do I want to feel, experience, or have once I do this thing? Why do I actually want it? What is it going to give me? – these are the questions I start with when I am feel myself attaching to a specific outcome instead of general focus for the year ahead.
Why Intention Setting?
I have been setting yearly intentions since 2017. Over the past six years, not all goals or resolutions I set were met but each year unfolded with such clarity and alignment with the essence of the intentions I set at the beginning of the year. When you get clear on what you want, that is where your energy will go and thus, you can create your entire reality. It may sound ‘woo woo’ or too good to be true but I wholeheartedly believe that when you carve out time to get clear on what you desire, those desires will come to fruition.
I believe it because I have experienced it. Year after year after year.
I don’t think it’s manifestation, though. I don’t think intention setting makes me any more or less likely to receive or achieve the things that are meant to happen in my life. I think if something is meant for it, it’ll happen regardless.
Intentions are less about setting a specific goal, but rather, getting clear on the essence of the energy you want to embody.
When I set aside time to ask myself what I actually want, I prime my mind to prioritize those things. It creates an antenna to tune into myself throughout the year and use the intentions as anchors to help me focus my energy.
In order to refine my vision for the year ahead, I use the lessons and experiences of the year prior to inform and calibrate myself in the present. I am different than who I was a year ago, six months ago, and even last week. So how can I use my past experiences that gave me information about what I like, don’t like, want more of, etc. to inform my vision for the year ahead?
For me, the process of setting intentions starts with a reflection of the year behind me in order to get clear about what I want for the year ahead. This is all information to guide me forward and give me more clarity on where I might want to go next. Once I have that information, I allow myself to dream bigger than I even can imagine. If had complete control and choice over how my future unfolds, what would my life look like next year? Who would I be? What would I be doing? What things would I focus on?
Intentions do not plan for the future. They are an anchor point for you to return to yourself as life naturally unfolds.
At the beginning of the year, there is absolutely no way to know what the year will bring. Maybe it’s a worldwide pandemic. Or a partner who changes the course of your life and all the plans you had set out for yourself. Maybe you get the opportunity to study in a different country or move to a city you’ve always dreamed of. Maybe your year is filled will grief, sadness, and loss that seems to consume you. And maybe it’s the best year of your life. You can never truly know what the future will hold but you can create a practice, and space in your life, for you to always return to yourself.
I don’t like to say that intentions will keep you “on track” because sometimes I think some of life’s best adventures are off the beaten path but I do believe we all know what we are meant to do. For some, you may have to peel back many, many layers of influence, expectation, and obligation from the world outside of you, but if you have the courage to listen, the clarity is waiting for you. I know the things that I daydream about and the little whisper in my mind telling me to kick that habit of scrolling for hours before bed. We all have an internal voice that guides us forward – when we listen, we go towards ourself and our highest purpose and when we don’t, we simply take a little longer to wind up back home. It’s all learning and it’s all perfect and no matter where you are, I invite you to have grace with yourself.
Intention setting is a practice, just like journaling or meditation, that you do at your own cadence. I like to take time (at least a few hours, if not a few weeks to let things simmer and marinate) to check-in with myself and vision up my life for the year ahead. I ask myself, “what would be the most expansive, most inspiring, most fun year ahead?” I work through the questions in this guide and give myself time to dream. I set aside my idea of how life should look and create space for the life that would feel really good for me. I take time to savor the possibility of “what if” before grounding back into the reality of the present and looking at small ways I can integrate this vision into my everyday life.
And if you have no idea what your vision for the year ahead is, that is totally fine.
Start small, with the next month or even the next week. Use the reflection of the past to settle into the present and propel you forward into the future with more information of what a more aligned life would look and feel like for you. When you’re really stuck, I love to look to Pinterest for inspiration or think about people (in your real life or even fictional characters) who I admire or feel expanded by. Who are the people you think are really cool or maybe you’re jealous of the life they are living? Let that be a marker for the energy you’d like to embody or way of life you’d like to live.
Allow this process to be led by curiosity – there is no one way to set intentions, or to know yourself more deeply. The process is a process of trial and error, of trying new practices in order to know what works best for you. “The work” will continue to feel like work until you bring joy into it and use it as a tool to give greater meaning to your life.
Have questions about intention setting? Leave ‘em down below. I want to dispel all misconceptions and invite you into this practice with fewer expectations and more excitement to get clear on the year head.
Do you typically make resolutions or set intentions for the new year? What do your practice look like?
What do you want to focus on in 2024? If you could experience anything next year, what would it be?
What are you most curious about right now? What is the thing that keeps you up late at night with excitement? What if one small thing you can do to move towards that?
PS – BIIIIIIIG DISCLAIMER! You do not have to change your life just because we are entering a new calendar year. You do not have to set intentions or goals or change any things about yourself or your life. You can set intentions (or change your life) whenever you’d like. Today, tomorrow, next year. But I love the sentiment of using the new year to take a breather, check in with yourself, and realign your focus for the year head. It works for me but that doesn’t mean it has to work for you. If anything, I hope you are able to take time to rest and enjoy the sweetness of the year’s end. When you feel inspired to check in with yourself, let that be the invitation to create momentum around your vision for the next 12 months (+ beyond).
“Nikki's 2023 intention setting guide was a supportive experience with just enough structure to encourage me to set time aside to reflect and think before heading into the new year. With insightful prompts and thoughtful questions, she gently leads you to discover intentions that may have otherwise stayed hidden or small. As I completed the guide, I felt a genuine sense of excitement and hope for what the new year held. It's a meaningful journey that fosters self-reflection and connection with your aspirations. It has been incredibly valuable to look back at throughout the year as well and see those intentions come to life and feel excitement for what more is ahead. I absolutely recommend it for a more thoughtful start to the year ahead - bonus points for doing it with a friend!” – Ally B.
AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS OF THE PROCESS
Lucky for you, you won’t just get the (really amazing and beautiful) 2024 Intention Setting Guide but also,
access to a live intention workshop on Sunday January 7 at 2-3:30p EST to work through some of the reflections of this guide and to support you as you refine you 2024 vision
a downloadable recalibration guide for Spring, Summer, and Fall to anchor your yearly intentions and give you the opportunity to reflect, recalibrate and decide what needs a little adjustment. (See the Summer and Fall 2023 Recalibration Guides)
+ quarterly zoom workshops to reflect, vision, and hold each other accountable
full access to every single post on The Process
+ a monthly creative process deep dive with resources, tools, and practices that have been supporting me in my personal process
you will be supporting me to create more offerings, like this, for both my free and paid readers. One day, I dream of designing a planner and journal to go along this guide to support you throughout the entire year…this subscription supports my practice, my study, my craft, and my ability to show up for you each week.
Sounds like a good deal, right? :-)
If you’re on the fence, here is a sneak peak into some of the practices within the guide
If you’re already a paid subscriber, scroll down to get the download to the 2024 Intention Setting Guide, a guided yearly visioning meditation, and a Notion dashboard to use in tandem with (or instead of) the guide. And if not,
And if you are a paid subscriber and/or have a friend who would love this, feel free to gift a subscription to The Process. (I personally would love anyone who gave that to me instead of another ~thing~ to find space for in my apartment)
“Nikki's 2023 Vision workshop is exactly what I needed to start my year off right. From the thought-provoking self-inquiries to looking back at the previous year, I found myself smiling, crying, laughing, and reliving memories I thought I had forgotten. All of this set me up beautifully for visioning for the year ahead. I now have measurable goals as well as goals I can feel into and honor beyond the physical plane. I'm so grateful for the magic that this workshop provided me with. Thank you, Nikki!” – Rebecca W.