Here we are again at the end of another calendar year. This time causes most of us to reflect on the year behind us and plan for the future. It also tends to be a time that makes us nostalgic as we deeply think about where we are in our lives. What a perfect time to define your purpose in life and set some intentions. Let’s start by understanding what it means to have a purpose to focus on.

It’s your North Star and your mission. We can have lots of goals for our lives (like finishing a degree or saving an amount of money), but our purpose is central to all the goals we set for ourselves. That’s how it works as a North Star. For example, maybe you feel your purpose in life is to help people in an area where you’ve also struggled. When each of our goals supports or enables this purpose, you are on track. So, the first step is to clearly define what you believe your purpose is so that you can form your goals and intentions around it.

It affects both your professional and personal life. Figuring out your purpose also gives you space to let that purpose spill into both your personal and professional lives. It’s easy to think your purpose is best when it relates only to your personal pursuits, especially if you have a career that doesn’t align with your purpose. But actually, when you are focused on your purpose, evidence shows it also increases your feelings of fulfillment with your work. Look for ways you can live in your purpose with what you do for a living.

You feel your best self when living within your purpose. Living in our purpose brings out magical feelings in us. It makes the heaviness of the world feel lighter and allows for more consistency in the actions we take. Living in your truth gives you a lens with which you can use to make decisions. This ability to say “yes” to what is in our purpose and “no” to what isn’t gives us a path to our most fulfilled life. All of this makes us feel we are at our personal best.

So, as we start a new year, here are a few tangible ways you can set intentions that work within your purpose:

1.       Write down your thoughts and reflect. Getting into your most innermost thoughts allows you to dig deep and ask yourself what you truly value. Not only does writing down your thoughts help you express yourself and cope with life, it also helps you clarify and have revelations you otherwise wouldn’t.

2.       Clear out some space. Declutter your surroundings if you want to narrow in on your intentions. Go one step further and set up a physical space that is peaceful and allows you the freedom to reflect.

3.       Discover your why. Rather than being about action, setting intentions is about clarifying your desires and values. You can have intentions without goals, but without intentions, goals are hard to achieve. For this reason, knowing your why is key to having your goals feel they have meaning.

4.       Be realistic. It’s hard to control aspects of your life when unexpected events happen. You can overcome this by being flexible about your intentions. Sometimes a short-term intention is best. Other times, setting a longer-term intention with a broader theme (such as communication or connection), comes in handy when facing obstacles.

5.       Shorten it so you can memorize it. You’ll want to make your intentions short and memorable. Can you fit the intention on a sticky note? If not, it may be too long. When they are short like this, you can also take visuals of your intentions with you or place them all around your home.

6.       Find a buddy. When we share our intentions with other people, it holds us accountable. So, find a partner you can share (or even create) your intentions with.