Hi everyone,
I hope you’ve started to find moments of pause just a little more accessible than when we first began our exploration of Presence in Q4.
As the year starts to come to a close, most of us are looking to wrap up goals, evaluate targets, and determine whether we’ve had “a good year.”
That’s why today, we dive into the concept of Attachment. 😉
::Your Five Minutes Start Now::
Part I: What Is Attachment?
In our context, attachment isn’t just wanting an outcome.
It’s wanting it so much that your worth, peace, or happiness starts depending on whether it happens.
And to be clear: we get attached because we care.
The problem is what care can turn into.
When the stakes feel high, care can become clinging.
Grasping.
Narrow focus.
And when that happens, we start missing options that are right in front of us.
Here’s the Catch-22:
We set goals because we want better.
Reaching them requires caring enough to act.
But that same care can become the tether that keeps us from seeing broader opportunities.
Many business owners live inside this belief:
Without attachment, I’ll lose my drive.
With attachment, I’ll miss the bigger picture.
That tension is real.
And learning to hold it—without letting it run you—is part of becoming a top leader.
Part II: So, How Do I Ever Set Healthy Goals?
We all have goals.
Career goals. Financial goals. Relationship goals.
This is part of being human.
But how do we want anything without unhealthy attachment?
We introduce: Intention.
Intention helps us connect our goals to something bigger.
Unlike a fixed goal, a higher intention isn’t about achieving something in the future.
It’s about aligning with how we want to be, right now.
It calls us back to present-moment awareness—asking how our choices support our deepest values in every moment.
Part III: Intention > Attachment
Let’s say your business sets a financial target to increase year-end revenue by 20%.
You gather your team to build a strategic plan.
You commit budget toward this direction.
But then comes the real question:
Where do you actually start?
That’s where intention becomes powerful.
Before choosing tactics, ask:
What is our intention in setting this target?
Have we connected it back to something bigger than ourselves?
This shifts focus away from attachment to a number.
Instead, it creates clarity of purpose—aligning decisions with meaning in every action.
Part IV: Setting Intentions & OKRs
Let’s make this practical.
We recently supported a B2B commerce business to:
Craft their Vision, Mission, and Values
Facilitate a Quarterly Strategic Planning session
Set their Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)
Fun fact: these are all standard business practices.
It’s one of my greatest joys to sneak as much consciousness work as possible into them. 😉
Here’s where attachment shows up.
OKRs are a powerful tool to create distance between attachment and intention.
Objectives represent qualitative priorities—the higher intention.
Key Results represent quantitative measures—how we track progress.
When we began, the business focused only on key results.
Through discussion, the owner realized her attachment to a future exit was shaping the team’s entire experience.
So we asked a different question:
How do you want to serve?
This led to a simple but powerful objective:
“To serve our existing customers better than ever before.”
The financial targets laddered up to that intention—not the other way around.
The result?
The team became focused, streamlined, and grounded.
A new product line emerged by listening more deeply to customer needs.
And the business is now growing toward an exit—without being driven by fear or grasping.
Part V: Find Your Intention by Asking, “How Do I Want to Serve?”
Setting intention doesn’t have to be complicated.
Try this simple framework:
Set your goal.
Ask, “How do I want to serve?”
Set an intention to behave as that kind of person, team, or company.
Example:
Goal: Gain three five-star reviews per month.
How do we want to serve?
By checking in with clients to show care and add value—especially when things are going well.
Intention: Create opportunities to show care and value in every client interaction.
Part VI: Next Up — Our Brain & Presence
Intention loosens the mind’s grip on numbers and metrics.
It connects you to something bigger, more inspiring, and often more abundant.
And it keeps you grounded in the present moment.
Up next, we’ll wrap the year with a look at what happens in your brain when you are truly present. 😍
Thanks as always for learning along with me.
That’s all for now.