Day 20: Compassionate Intensions

Coach Mickey Anderson Podcast · Compassionate Intentions

As a leader, we must be cognizant of and effectively prioritize our actions and interactions in order to be effective. Setting intentions can be an effective way to focus on those actions and interactions, and keep up in alignment with our larger goals (Olivares, 2008). Setting intentions is an active, intentional forward-looking process that can enhance the relationships within an organization (Olivares, 2008). 

When we start to practice setting intentions, we often to go through a calibration process. Some days we’ll set our bar too low, and other days we’ve to overestimate our capacity. And then there will some days when we won’t even know what to write. On these days, it’s even more important to think of something—anything—as we’re reinforcing that our lives are under our control rather than at the whims of fate.

Task/ Journal Prompt: Write down a daily intention for your day, something that is general enough that you can bring forward into your actions and interactions, but specifically something you want to actively work on improving. It could be a strength you have that you want to highlight, or something that you’ve found needs work. An example of a daily intention is “I put ‘we’ before ‘I’” or “I bring positivity into all of my conversations”. 

When setting your intention for the day, make it present tense, and positive. There should be no I won’t do X or I’ll stop being Y. 


References:

Olivares, O. J. (2008). The formulation of a leadership development praxis: linking intentions to outcomes. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.