Welcome back to Part 3 of our Mindfulness May series, where we discuss mindfulness practices you can implement within your team to support the mental health of your staff members.
Team building activities are an important step to building an inclusive and productive team culture. At the beginning of every week, Amergin’s team get together and we each discuss our week’s workload, our goals for the day and the week, and our intention for the week.
So what’s the difference between setting goals and setting intentions?
Setting a goal helps us to see the future, understand what we want, create a plan, and stay on track to get it done.
Setting intentions differ because they are not something you have to do. An intention is intangible, something that is felt. Often, intentions align with the goals we have set, but they connect us to the truth of who we are as we interact in each moment.
Encouraging your staff to adopt this practice of setting weekly goals and intentions is not only good business practice, but is also a simple way you can check in on how your staff are going. For example, your staff may have a long list of goals to achieve for the week but if their intention is to “find the balance” and they seem tired, stressed or generally not their usual self; this should be a prompt for you to check in, see how they are going and if there is any support you can offer to them.
Setting and living your intentions allows you to:
- focus on who you are in the moment;
- reflect on how you wish to contribute to the world;
- recognise and live your values;
- choose to touch the lives of others and;
- raise your emotional energy, which in turn raises your physical energy.
They also provide a roadmap and reminder for how to live out each day. Intentions give you purpose, as well as the inspiration and motivation to achieve your purpose. The practice of setting daily intentions can be life changing, both personally and professionally.
What Are Some Benefits of Setting Intentions?
Intentions Have No Limits
The wonderful thing about intentions is that you can set a new one each day, or you can set multiple for one day. The possibilities are endless when it comes to setting intentions, there’s no such thing as having too many. Creating a purpose for that day forces you to be present, forgiving yourself from the past and alleviating you from any future anxieties.
Intentions Affect Every Aspect of Your Life
Setting intentions will impact how you show up to daily activities – everything from your professional activities as well as your physical ones like working out can integrate your intention. The same intention will present itself in disparate areas of your life, with power to transform your mind, body, and soul.
Intentions Keep You Centred
The power of an intention, whether it’s just one or several, is that they can be experienced all at once, ensuring that you feel whole. Setting intentions ensures that you don’t feel that something is missing or lacking in your life. In this moment, intentions promise you feelings of presence, awareness, and fullness – all of which can foster a sense of grounding for your staff which reduces anxiety.
Intentions Improve Your Effectiveness
By setting your intention, your subconscious has a magical way to ensure that opportunities to practice that intention appear in small and big ways. A positive intention leads to a positive attitude. And a positive attitude unblocks barriers and increases productivity. Plus a positive workplace, is a happy workplace, which support happy staff and clients.
Intentions Make You More Mindful
You can fully immerse yourself in the present moment and not become fixated on what you don’t have yet. Doing everything with intent will also help you to become more in tune with your spiritual being. This can help you to approach your life more spiritually, and it will open your heart and mind. When you do this, it paves the way to naturally achieve your goals.
It also can help create a mindset that breaks up the never ending “to-do” list of priorities within the workplace, into smaller and more achievable goals that link with your intention.
Here are some examples of Intentions.
- I intend to live in gratitude for all that I have and all that I am.
- I intend to respond first and then react.
- I intend to lead by example.
- I intend to be open to success and abundance.
- I intend to stop taking things personally.
- I intend to forgive others, and myself.
- I intend to go with the flow.
- I intend to be true to myself.
Remember – Keep it simple. Make your intentions something you can achieve. Just do what feels right for you. Keep them realistic. Write them down. Get creative with colours and hand lettering. Place them on a vision board, your desk, your computer or wherever you can see them to remind you.
If you’ve never set intentions before, why not set an intention to start setting intentions as your first of many team building activities?
Where do I start?
If you want to get started on building a high performing team that are engaged and productive, you can download our Free eBook – Five Ways to Build An Unstoppable Team
Just click the link and enter your email address and we’ll send it to your inbox.
If your staff are disengaged or underperforming, you’re battling a tense work environment culture or you’re struggling with poor customer service, it’s a sign you may be dealing with an unhealthy team.