Why is Setting an Intention Useful

I know as students you all are very adept in and have been told many times to set a goal. And you make time tables and paste it on your boards and then there are days when you are not able to stick to the time tables and feel super bad about it. You know why? Mostly because your intentions behind the action are unclear.

What if I tell you that somewhere during the day, doing what you do, you don’t even know why you are doing that. Lets take the example of social media or watching TV, nothing wrong in it now, right? Absolutely nothing wrong I say. However, the missing part is that you forgot what your intention was when you went on to the internet. You knew you are switching on the gadget for checking out more info about the topic you were studying or check out the homework on whatsapp. And what was supposed to be just that, resulted in mindless trolling and surfing on the net. And before you realise it more than an hour has gone. And the next hour goes in bashing yourself about your unproductivity. Familiar situation right?

Now check this scenario, you have set the intention and told yourself mentally that I am getting on whats app right now to only check the homework. You get on, you check, and you get back to prepare to finish that homework. Now after an hour, you have got heaps done. How wonderful!

That’s what is the power of setting an intention. If you know why you are doing what you are doing chances are you will flounder less and less. Let us explore what is an intention? Simply put it is a mental state that you have behind an action. However, this is at times not in your awareness. Let me share with you an example; I had a bunch of vibrant students in a session and I asked them what is your intention of attending this session and a guy quipped, “mam sir told us it is complusory”. I asked him, “so will you jump from the mountain if sir told you it is compulsory?” So there, you see how many things we do we are not even clear about why we are doing that. And also just imagine, what if this clarity is yours? What if you knew, you are visiting social media for fun or are play xbox for fun and give yourself 45 minutes to do that? Then by the end of it you wont be guilty of having wasted so much time mindlessly.

Intentions will help you use your energy and time wisely. If you do not know where you want to go, you will reach anywhere. Intentions are like that GPS that tells you how to navigate through your day productively. They can be set in any area of your life, academic, sports, physical, social, emotional, spiritual.

Set an intention before getting off the bed. Before sitting down to study. Before going out to play. And see what difference does it make in the quality of how you have spent the day?

How to set an Intention:

1. Be clear what is it that you want out of your action. Example: I am sitting down for studying for 2 hours. Set this intention and then do not be tempted to browse social media to check that 1 message.
2. Tell yourself, “I don’t do social media before 2 hours of study”. Your words matter. When you say “I don’t” and when you say “I can’t” they both have different impact on your mind .

Try it. You have nothing to lose and much to gain!

I always tell in my sessions, begin your day with an intention and end with gratitude. More on gratitude in next column.