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Setting Your Intention for the Year Ahead

Hello friends, and Happy New Year! I’m so excited to share today’s reflection about setting your intention with you on the Find Yourself, Change Your Life Podcast. As I start this new year, after weeks of travel from Egypt to the US and finally back to France, I find myself craving intentionality more than ever.

With the holidays behind us and our everyday rhythms returning, let’s talk about something at the heart of real transformation: setting your intention for the year ahead.

Start with Reflection, Not Just Resolutions when Setting Your Intention

December is always full of travel, family, big emotions, and moments where things don’t always go smoothly. Yet, it’s those reflective pauses that matter. Before you even think about traditional New Year’s resolutions or diving headfirst into goal-setting, pause.

Take a look back through your calendar, journal, or agenda.

Ask:

What did I navigate this year?

Where did I grow?

What surprised me?
What challenged me?

What delighted me?

It’s not only about accomplishments. It’s about the unexpected events, the moments of resilience, and how you met what life tossed your way. Give yourself credit for all of it.

This reflective practice is the first (often skipped) part of setting your intention. It honors your journey so far and grounds the next steps in self-awareness rather than haste.

Setting Your Intention Before Goals

For a long time, I approached each year as a series of boxes to check. Set big goals. Crush the goals. Move on. But over time, I found more meaning when I started setting my intention first. It’s not just about what you achieve—it’s about who you want to be, how you want to feel as you move through your days, and how you want to show up for yourself and others.

Ask yourself as you plan this year:

What kind of energy and growth do I want to invite?

How do I want to show up in my relationships?

What values do I want to live by?

How do I want to experience my deadlines, successes, and setbacks?

Setting your intention at the start of the year helps you anchor your goals to your authentic desires and values, not just to external checklists.

The Power of Being, Not Just Doing when Setting Your Intention

We live in a culture obsessed with doing: achieving, hustling, always moving forward. But I’ve learned (and keep learning) that true fulfillment comes from who we are becoming. If there’s one simple truth I could repeat, it would be: it’s not always about the doing. It’s the being.

Setting your intention invites you to show up for life as yourself, with authenticity and presence. When you lead with intention, your actions shift naturally. You may find that the boxes you thought you wanted to check need to be replaced, rearranged, or even tossed aside entirely.

Setting Your Intention as a Guiding Light in Big Life Changes

Many in my own circle, clients, friends, loved ones, are navigating big transitions, especially in their careers. Whether it’s leaving a job, starting a business, or shifting roles within your family, these are moments that truly ask you to go inward. Setting your intention isn’t just about work, it’s about infusing every decision with self-alignment.

Ask:

Is this new direction in service of my deeper intention?

Does it honor where and how I want to grow?

Sometimes life takes you sideways, not forward. And that’s okay, if you stay connected to your inner awareness and your intention

Everyday Decisions Rooted in Setting Your Intention

Everyone loves SMART goals, especially in professional circles. But while goals are important, they’re incomplete without a guiding “why.” Setting your intention at the beginning of the year makes it much easier to stay the course in everyday moments, especially when life gets messy.

It’s in the small, consistent decisions—the “being” of your daily life—that lasting change happens. Your intention becomes your north star when motivation wanes, the path gets rocky, or your goals need to shift.

setting your intention reflection questions

This Year, Choose to Set Your Intention

So as we step into this new year, I invite you to pause and ask yourself:

Who do I want to be this year?

What energy do I want to bring into every room, every conversation, every challenge?

Setting your intention is not a one-time event. It’s something you return to, check in with, and use to course-correct when life inevitably surprises you. It’s the foundation for a year (and life) of meaning instead of mere motion.

If you’re seeking support for setting your intention, building decision-making skills, or creating more aligned goals, I have a few new containers opening this year, including a deep-dive decision-making session designed to help you connect with your personal clarity.

Connecting About Setting Your Intentions

Let’s keep this conversation going. Find me on social at the links below, and know that in this busy world, I deeply appreciate your time and presence here. You can find me on LinkedIn and Instagram @mary.clavieres, or check out my website for resources, book info, and human design readings.

Thank you for being here. This year brings big changes, for both this podcast and, I have a feeling, for your own journey, too. Here’s to a year of authentic, intention-filled growth.

Every step you take brings you closer to greater self-awareness, alignment, and fulfillment. I’m honored to walk this journey with you.

If you’d like to connect further about your unique human design blueprint, you’re invited to learn more and book a reading here.

Questions? Please feel free to reach out on LinkedIn or Instagram. I'm also on Voxer at @MaryClavieres.

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Thank you so much for being here, for listening, and for taking these steps on your own journey. Until next week!

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