Morning Intentions
Every morning is an opportunity to design and live your best life. Morning Intentions helps you start to your day mindfully through a series of thought-provoking questions to cultivate positive intention, gratitude, and mindfulness. Whether you're looking to enhance your productivity, improve your mental well-being, or simply start each day with a sense of calm and purpose, this tool will help you to live more intentionally and align your daily actions with your deepest values. By focusing on what truly matters to you, you'll cultivate a mindset of peace, empowerment, and fulfillment.
When to use it
Morning Intentions most effective when used as part of your morning routine, setting a positive tone for the day ahead.
However, its benefits can be realized at different times based on your personal needs. For example, I often use this tool while walking the dogs. Using the AI Chatbot version of Motivation Intentions I can just speak out what’s on my mind without having to type anything. By the time I get back, I feel calm, clear and motivated to start the day. It’s also really helpful when you need a reset in the middle of the day.
Here are some great moments to engage with Morning Intentions:
First Thing in the Morning: Starting your day with reflection can help you clarify your priorities, cultivate gratitude, and set intentions that align with your values, helping you increase your focus and motivation for the day ahead.
During Morning Quiet Time: If you have a quiet period after your initial wake-up routine—perhaps after exercise or meditation—this can be an excellent time to use Morning Intentions.
Before Starting Work: Taking a few minutes to reflect on your intentions before diving into your work can improve your productivity and ensure that your actions are aligned with your larger goals.
When Planning Your Day: If you prefer to plan your day in the morning, incorporating Morning Intentions into this routine can help you prioritize tasks based on your overarching values and goals, rather than just urgent needs.
During a Morning Commute: For those who commute, listening to or reflecting on prompts from Morning Intentions during this time can transform your journey into a constructive space for planning and reflection. The AI Chatbot version of this tool can be particularly helpful for this.
Weekend Mornings: While weekdays are often rushed, weekend mornings might offer a more relaxed environment to deeply engage with the questions and reflections, allowing for deeper contemplation and planning. I find this tool particularly helpful on the weekend, which tends to be less structured and as a result, it’s easier to slip in to a reactive vs. proactive approach to the day. This exercise helps get me out of that inertia.
Any Time You Need a Reset: On particularly challenging days, taking a moment to pause and revisit your intentions can provide a much-needed reset, helping you approach the rest of the day with renewed focus and calm.
How it works
Morning Intentions
Morning Intentions is a guided reflection exercise that presents you with a series of six questions each morning. These questions are specifically crafted to help you align your daily activities with your deepest values, cultivate a sense of gratitude, and establish clear, purposeful intentions for the day. The questions are as follows:
1. What are your top three priorities for today? This question helps you define what is most important to accomplish within the day instead of simply tackling what’s most urgent. This question helps you direct more energy and resources toward the tasks that are truly important, which will enhance the purpose you feel throughout the day. If these priorities are aligned with your deeper personal or professional goals, you’ll also foster a greater sense of achievement and fulfillment through your actions. Doing this each day is how you craft a meaningful life aligned with your values.
2. What do you how to have achieved by the end of the day to feel the day was well-spent? This question encourages you to visualize success. In addition to being a powerful motivator, this reflection helps you identify and commit to specific outcomes or experiences that align with your definition of The Good Life. Remember, answers to this question don’t just need to be task-driven. I find that the most powerful reflections to this question are often related to being present and having fun with my family.
3. What are three things I am grateful for today? Gratitude is a cornerstone of emotional and psychological well-being. This question shifts your focus from what is lacking to what is abundant with your life. Recognizing and acknowledging what is going well can enhance your resilience, reduce stress, and shift your perspective to a more optimistic outlook, enriching your relationships and daily experiences.
4. How do I want to show up in my interactions and activities today? This question encourages you to reconnect with your personal values and qualities you wish to embody in your daily interactions and activities. This reflection prompts a mindful approach to your behavior and intentions, encouraging you to live intentionally and in alignment with your ideals.
5. If you could live today over again, what would you do? This question can help prioritize the things in your life that are important, but perhaps not urgent. Imagining re-living the day fosters a reflection on potential improvements at a time when you can still do something about it.
6. What are some ways to infuse joy and pleasure into the day? Living The Good Life is not only about achieving goals, but enjoying the journey by incorporating elements of joy and pleasure into your daily life. Identifying activities that bring happiness, you can enhance your overall quality of life and counterbalance the stresses of daily responsibilities by savoring moments of delight and relaxation.
7. What am I looking forward to today? Anticipating positive experiences can significantly boost your mood and outlook on the day. This question will serve as a reminder that each day holds potential for enjoyable moments and meaning, and can help foster curiosity about the unfolding day.
How to use it
I’ve created three different versions of Morning Intentions, allowing you to choose the one that feels most intuitive or convenient for your use:
✨ AI Chatbot. This is an on-demand, interactive AI journal based on these questions with personalized support. In addition to the journaling itself, this AI journal can provide a report and deeper insights you can capture for deeper reflection and processing. If you subscribe to ChatGPT plus, you can try the Morning Intentions GPT for free. This is the version I use most myself. One thing I love about it is the ability to speak aloud my responses when I’m out for a walk. It allows me to get the benefits of deep reflection in a fraction of the time.
📝 Google Docs Template. I know that not everyone is comfortable with AI, and prefer to have something more tangible. If you can’t or don’t want to use the Morning Intentions GPT, my Google Docs template is a great option for you. As an editable template, you can make a copy and save it to your Google Drive. Any time you have a new stressful event, you can create a new version of the template.
📄 PDF Download. Finally, I have a traditional PDF download if you don’t use Google Docs, or you prefer to handwrite your responses.
