The “Intentions List” Is the Best Way to Start 2025 on the Right Track
Apartment Therapy’s January Cure is a free 20-day program that’ll help you refresh your home for the year ahead. Sign up here and get all assignments delivered to your inbox.
I’ve never met a New Year’s resolution I actually liked. That’s not to say goals around self-improvement and living a more fulfilling life aren’t worthwhile (quite the opposite!); just that I find resolutions can more often than not focus too heavily on the results than the reason behind them. That’s why I prefer to make an “intentions list” instead.
It might sound like a tomato-tomahto situation, but I find that there are some meaningful differences in these semantics. While resolutions are more about the what, intentions really place an emphasis on the why.
For example, I’ve always wanted to be a person who journals every day. And sometimes, I am! But I always fall off at a certain point. Often, I feel unclear as to why I’m even doing it. Is it because I want a diary of what I did each day to look back on, or is it to spend more time reconnecting with myself in the morning? After meditating on the idea, I realized my real wish was to write more often, just for myself. My job involves writing and editing every day (work that I cherish) for other people, so I want a space where I put down words just for my own benefit.
Puzzling out this intention from the broad resolution of “journal every day” has done wonders for helping me journal more often. Plus, it’s helped me take it easier on myself in my effort to fulfill this wish; when I don’t have my notebook on me, I’ll jot down thoughts in my Notes app without feeling guilty about my journal feeling abandoned.
So, in the spirit of feeling less guilty about making and ghosting resolutions this year, today’s task is to write your own intentions list. Here’s how to go about it.
Day 7: Create an intentions list.
Now is an excellent time to refer back to the word that you came up with yesterday, on day six of the Cure. That broad sentiment can serve as the north star that guides all of these intentions. Here are some questions that can be helpful to ask yourself in coming up with your list.
What’s something small you can do each week to ladder up to your “one word?”
What are your bigger life goals this year?
What are you doing when you feel happiest at home?
Is there something you did last year that you’d like to do even more of this year?
What are some things you hope to keep consistent this year, and a few things you hope to change?
A year from now, you hope to feel more ____?
Remember that the intentions can be teeny tiny, and the list doesn’t have to be long at all. If there are a few things you feel really good about, stop there! An unwieldy list can feel overwhelming, and these should feel like helpful reminders more than chores.
Because I’m doing the January Cure as we go, here are some of my intentions for this year.
Read every book on my shelf. This is part of my goal to spend lots of time reading this year, be extra thoughtful about the new things I buy and bring into my home, and really appreciate the things I already have.
Write more often, just for myself. I’m not holding myself to a strict expectation to journal every single day, but I can practically hear the several empty journals I’ve accumulated over the years thanking me.
Have a creativity date each month. I always love how I feel after an afternoon at an art museum, or playing with my craft supplies at home. It’s easy to let my calendar fill up with work and social plans and forget to make time for some just-for-fun toying around, so I’m setting the intention to carve out some time to be creative every month.
Cook new recipes. Historically, cooking is one of my love languages, but between moving a year or so ago, adjusting to a smaller kitchen, and navigating ultra-inflated grocery prices, I’ve been feeling less inspired to cook lately. Whether that means starting a cookbook club with my friends, buying a new ingredient to base a meal off each week, or something else, my main intention is to make sure I’m having more fun in the kitchen and returning to my love of cooking.
Hang more art. Every time I move, I find that months pass and my poor stacks of framed art and photos sit collecting dust in some hidden corner. But having art on the walls always makes a space feel so much more like mine — like home! While my resolution is to hang (and likely procure) more art, I’m clear on the intention behind it. Luckily, there’s an art-related Cure task coming soon, and I will absolutely be following along.
Share your 2025 intentions in the community forum.
More ways to participate in the January Cure:
Sign up for email updates.
Visit the 2025 January Cure page and catch up on assignments.
Download the January Cure calendar.
Join the conversation by checking out the Cure board in our community forum.
Check off that you’ve completed this task and track your overall January Cure progress here!
The Cure Program is a tradition here at Apartment Therapy — it happens every January, April, and September. Click here to learn more about the year-round program and when to sign up.
Further Reading
I Tried the 90/90 Rule and My Closet Is Now Fully Decluttered
Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About Article’s DTC Furniture
See How a Stager Used Paint to Transform a 1950s Living Room
