As the year starts to come to a close, most of us are looking to wrap goals, evaluate targets, and determine whether we’ve “had a good year.”
That’s why today, we dive into the concept of Attachment. 😉
What is Attachment?
In our context, Attachment isn’t just the desire for a specific outcome—it is craving an outcome so badly that our sense of worth, happiness, or peace depends on its success.
We become attached because we care.
However, our deep desire for an outcome can easily lead us to cling to it, grasp for it, and, if the stakes are high enough, focus on it so narrowly that we lose sight of life’s natural flow.
It’s a classic Catch-22: we set goals because we want better. Achieving them requires us to care enough to take action, but this care can also become the tether—the attachment—that holds us back.
Without it, we risk losing the drive to work towards our goals; with it, we risk losing our ability to adapt and flow.
It’s a tension that we must learn to navigate.
So, How Do I Ever Want Anything?
We all have goals—career goals, financial goals, relationship goals.
This is part of being human.
But how do we ever want for anything without grasping or clinging?
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 is about aligning with how we want to be, right now.
It is a call to present-moment awareness, asking us to consider how our choices support our greatest goals in every moment.
Intention > Attachment
Let’s say your business sets a financial target to increase year-end revenue by 20%.
You get your whole team together to put forward a strategic plan. You commit budget toward this direction.
How do you know which actions to put your money towards? Where do you actually start?
That’s where Intention becomes incredibly powerful.
Before you choose your nuts-and-bolts commitments, ask a bigger question: What is our Intention in increasing this revenue? How do we intend to serve?
This shifts your focus away from many starting points, and away from attachment to a number.
Instead, it creates clarity of purpose—aligning your decisions with a connection to something bigger—in every action you take.
Setting an Intention in Business
This year, we worked with a client who runs a high-end consumer goods business.
We helped the business owner and her team craft their Vision, Mission, and Values, facilitated their Q1 Strategic Planning meeting, and guided the entire team in setting Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).
(Side note: ^^So many buzzwords, I know. I just honestly love sneaking as much Consciousness work as possible into basic business meetings 😉).
Allow me to get technical for just a moment to explain how we did this, and how it ties to Attachment.
OKRs are the best tool I’ve found in business to create distance between attachment to outcomes and intention.
- Objectives are the qualitative priorities of a business—the higher Intention.
- Key Results are the quantitative measures (metrics, KPIs) that track progress toward achieving those objectives—the path we choose to get there.
This business owner had a longstanding attachment to selling her company and previously set goals focused on Key Results only.
That’s why creating an Intention beyond sales metrics was mission-critical.
We asked ourselves, “How do we want to be, right now?”
This led to a Key Objective: “Serve our existing customers better than ever before.”
This meant that, regardless of whether the company met its financial targets, each team member had something other than numbers to focus on.
The financial targets we then determined weren’t a pressure cooker of success or failure.
The team’s year became less about “hitting the 20%” and more about whether their actions reflected service, value, and integrity each step of the way.
It was a game-changer. The team began asking questions about their existing customers’ greatest needs and found a goldmine opportunity for a new product line.
That product line just recently launched, and it is beautiful. The team is streamlined and focused. And the business is thriving.
Find Your Intention by Asking, “How do I want to be…?”
Setting an Intention doesn’t have to feel complicated or intimidating. It can be as simple as tying your goal to a bigger objective.
Here is a simple formula:
- Set your goal.
- Ask yourself, “How do I want to be (or serve) to make this happen?”
- Set an intention to be that kind of person, team, or company.
Examples
Example One:
- Goal: Lose 5 lbs.
- How do I want to be? I want to care less about weight and more about my overall health.
- Intention: Become someone who prioritizes her health above vanity metrics.
Example Two:
- Goal: Gain three five-star reviews each month for our business.
- How do I want our business to serve? I want our company to check in with clients to show care and add value.
- Intention: Create opportunities to show care and value in every client interaction.
Example Three:
- Goal: Have a more tidy home (works for all types of goals).
- How do I want to be? Thoughtful and mindful about caring for my environment, because it brings me peace of mind.
- Intention: Value my peace of mind by valuing my surroundings.
Up Next
What’s nice about Intention is that it loosens your mind’s grip on a number or a metric.
It connects you to something bigger, more inspiring, and oftentimes, more abundant. And it keeps you focused on the here and now.
Up next, we’ve been saving something super fun: What happens in your brain when you are truly Present? 😍
Thanks as always for learning along with me. That’s all for now.