Resolutions vs. Intentions vs. Goals: What Entrepreneurs Get Wrong

(Note: This is a formatted and slightly edited, AI-generated transcript to make it easier for you to read through. Please excuse any spelling, grammar errors and filler words – it’s just how I speak LOL)

 You’ve heard the endless debate of resolutions versus intentions, but there is a massive gap between the two that really decides whether you’re going to follow through or fizzle out as a business owner.  Hey, I am Lucy Reyes  and I help overwhelmed entrepreneurs and business owners find ways to actually follow through and make progress on what matters without running themselves down to the ground.

 So today I’m going to show you    why picking the right structure is really going to help make or break that next big goal, that next big push, that next big thing that you’re wanting to achieve, and how you can set it up in a way that actually makes following through a whole lot easier.

 By the way, if you want a simple tool to help you reset your week so that way you can refocus without burning out.  I’ve linked my free weekly reset, GBT down below. It’s a 10 minute tool to help you get clear, get focused, and intentional about the week ahead. So go ahead and check it out, and then grab it in the description below.

 Let’s first dive into why a structure can really make or break success. So a lot of business owners tend to blame themselves for this inconsistency and make themselves feel really bad about what it is that they couldn’t achieve. But most of the time it’s not even that you didn’t have the motivation or that you slacked off or whatever negative thoughts you’re telling yourself.

It’s usually the structure  that you tried to set up or you didn’t set up, that’s really the reason why you’re falling short. And when I say structure, I’m not talking about rigid schedules or complicated systems or trying to find the perfect tool to help you stay on top of your goals. Like I’m not talking about that because  those are the kinds of things that if you aren’t setting that up or you’re trying to set that up, that’s what’s going to hinder you from even

You know, getting started or it’s going to trip you up as you have already just started  trying to make progress on your goals. So structure, when I say structure, what I’m talking about is    it’s how you turn a decision into an action on a normal, busy, chaotic,  unstructured type of day.  But this is really what I’m saying is the bridge between caring  and doing. So caring enough about wanting to achieve this goal and actually taking the actions that will help you achieve that goal.  You’re setting these up when you’re motivated, you’re excited.

You’re like, “Yeah, this is finally going to be the year.”  But like I said, you can make these changes at any point. It doesn’t have to be  the new year. It doesn’t have to be, “I’m gonna start on Monday.” You can do this whenever. So whenever you make a bold, big statement, changes like this, they fall apart really fast because there’s a no system and they’re just    outcome focused without real behavior support. 

They assume that you’re going to be consistent and they don’t account for all of the different life curve balls and variability that just happens on your day to day. You know that there’s no day that was exactly like the day before. Something, even if it’s small.  For most of us it’s something big that’s different on a day to day.

So resolutions typically end up sending you straight to burnout or into a negative mindset spiral. And that’s why they usually fall apart or they collapse at that very first disruption  because disruption is pretty much guaranteed.  Life happens and this is why most people are  coming into February already, like, “Ugh! You know, like, I, I’m done with that.

I’m not doing that anymore.” So resolutions though not bad,    they cannot be standalone  because, you know, it is good to have these hopes and dreams for ourselves. We want to have new identity changes, but they can’t be the only thing that you’re relying on to make true, real change.  So the second thing are intentions.

So these are driven by your values and they help you reconnect with why you want to change. So you can say something like, “I want more freedom so that I can   spend more time with my kids. So that I can travel more. So that I can  have more hobbies. I can hang out with my friends and family more.” Whatever that is. Right? or, “I want to be more present with my kids because I have, you know, slacked off on that.” Like Whatever the case is, these are really good. like They’re centered  with your heart and mind. They’re driven by your values. They’re encouraging, but the problem is that they’re not specific enough. Like what does “be present” even mean?

What does freedom even look like?  Freedom and being present look different for everybody. So sure, you could Google it and you’ll find a definition of like. “What does freedom mean? What does present, be present, mean?” But that’s honestly going to be different for every single person. ’cause what might be my version of being present for my kids might be different than your version of being present for your kids.

And that’s okay. And that’s why intentions by themselves  are easy to lose track of whenever life gets busy, unless    you anchor them with some real concrete actions or routines  that will actually help you follow through. So intentions guide the direction, but they don’t manage the execution. They’re really good statements.

They have really good intention behind them. But they need to be more specific. Are you catching the pattern here?  Being specific  is a key element to actually achieving what you want to achieve. So let’s move on to  goals. Because goals and resolutions and intentions,  they get often intertwined as the same word.

As the same thing when they’re really not so.    Goals are where intentions actually become trackable    and achievable  if they are done right. So there’s three big things that every goal needs to be. So the first one, we’ve covered it a lot,    which is specific. It needs to be specific, okay? It needs to be actionable and it needs to be measurable. 

So instead of saying,  ”I want to be more present with my team,” you’re going to say, “I am going to have one team check-in or one team meeting per week or per month.” Right? So you are getting very specific. The intention is still there. Right? Your intention is still to be more present. You have this defined what being present means for you, and this is now turning that into an action that you can actually track on a given  week, month, year, whatever.

So when goals are done right, they really reduce decision fatigue because you’re not, you pre-decided all of these things in advance. You pre-decided what it means to be present. You pre-decided what it means to   lose weight or be healthier, right? And they translate those abstract values into something that you actually can observe and see if you did it or not.

 And it gives you feedback which, feedback, whether it’s good or bad, it helps you build trust with yourself. Because if you, for example, missed a team meeting, that’s just information. You can go back and be like, “Okay, well, I didn’t meet this team meeting,” or “I didn’t make it.” Why not? So for example,  I have a goal to work out three times per week. 

And I missed yesterday. I stretched instead, but I missed yesterday and I can easily go back and see like, “Oh, why did I miss?”  It’s because I overdid it on Monday. Just like I, I, I’m sure I’m not alone, but I overdid it on Mondays. I’m extremely sore. Still to this day,  and it’s just information. It’s just data.

It’s not making me feel bad about myself. I know now the reason. It’s information. I overdid it. I went too hard on my workout on Monday, and I need to tone it down notch because I’m not there yet. I’m not there yet, so I need to tone it down a notch. I added stretching into my routine as well. So on workout days that I missed, let me at least stretch.

So it’s just information. Don’t let you missing a day or not doing something, or not achieving something one time derail you, make you feel like you have to start over or it’s all or nothing.  No, any progress is better than no progress. Right? So with the right system, goals can really help you adjust and follow through even when things get messy, even when things don’t go as planned, even when you overdid it in your workout like I did, even when you, whatever it is that you want to achieve.

Okay, and the last thing that I want to say here is your goals  also don’t have to be intense. They don’t have to be massive or like super hustle-y, right?  If you have failed at goals before, it’s usually not because you weren’t committed or you weren’t motivated.  It was probably the goal was too big, too vague, or it just wasn’t supported by a real system.

So don’t let these past mistakes or versions or challenges or,  these past versions that didn’t achieve goals, prevent you from setting new ones or make you believe that you are just someone that doesn’t achieve goals, because that’s not true. Okay? Everyone has the capability to achieve the goals that they want to when they are done right. 

And again, your goals are going to look different than my goals, and they’re going to look different than the next person.  Don’t compare your goals. It doesn’t matter.  It doesn’t matter if Susan Lou has a goal to,  you know, get 10,000 email subscribers and your goal is only to get  a hundred compared to her 10,000, that’s fine.

Everyone’s journey is different.  Don’t compare your goals,  stay in your lane and  work on yourself  in making those goals very realistic to to you. Okay? Not to someone else. To you. So one tiny shift that I want you to take this week is to pair one of your intentions with one micro goal that’s clear and doable. 

So don’t say, “I want to be healthier,” okay? But instead you can say something like, “Add a veggie to my lunch three days this week.”  And then you can easily track that to see if you did it or not. And if you didn’t, take notes. Take notes on why so that way it becomes information and data.  Don’t say I want to get organized.

I know many people that follow me say, “I wanna get organized, I want to get productive.”  Don’t just say that. Put an action behind it. So for example, “I’m going to spend 10 minutes every Friday decluttering my Trello board,” or “I’m going to spend one day a week, pre-planned on Sunday, to organize my Google photos.”

Whatever the case is, be very specific. Okay?  This is the kind of small but very clear structure that will really help you adjust and stay  on track with following your goals, even if you don’t follow them through perfectly,  even when life gets messy, but at least you’re still making progress and any progress is better than no progress.

So  to recap. Resolutions often don’t work because they are way too rigid on their own. Intentions feel great, but they tend to make you lose sight of them because there’s no real action that you can track and goals when they’re clear and flexible, then they can actually bridge that gap, tie it all together and really help you move forward one step at a time.

 So proper goal setting. Go ahead and give it a try. If you want support to actually follow through each week, then go ahead and grab my weekly free reset GPT down below. It gives you a quick 10 minute structure to reflect, refocus and set simple guidelines for the week to stay on top of all of the things that you need to do.

 So go ahead and grab it, check it out, let me know how it goes, and I’ll see you in the next video.