Picture your desk covered in half-finished projects, your digital folders bursting with works-in-progress, and your mind racing with ideas that never quite make it to reality. Sound familiar? As creatives, we often spend countless hours trying to map out our path, convinced that if we could just define the right milestones and lay out the perfect plan, we’ll finally find the clarity we crave.
But here’s what I’ve discovered working with countless creative professionals: trying to pre-define your creative path is like trying to navigate new terrain with an old map.
The territory of creative work is constantly shifting—what worked yesterday might not work today, and what works tomorrow might not work next week. Yet we cling to outdated plans and predetermined routes, wondering why we keep getting lost.
That sense of purpose and intrinsic motivation remains frustratingly out of reach precisely because we’re following a map that doesn’t match the landscape of our creative reality.1
Here’s the uncomfortable truth we need to embrace: in creative work, there is no fixed destination to navigate toward.
The magic happens when you stop trying to predict outcomes and instead ground your creative practice in clear intentions that align with your core values. When you make this shift, something remarkable happens: the overwhelm begins to fade, replaced by a sense of purpose that guides every creative decision.
The Hidden Cost of Goal-Chasing
Have you ever found yourself stuck in an endless cycle of planning and replanning your creative projects? You map out every step, create detailed timelines, and set ambitious milestones—all before making the first mark or writing the first word.
This pattern reveals a fundamental flaw in how we approach creative work.
For many creatives, planning becomes a substitute for creating. We convince ourselves that if we could just figure out all the steps in advance, the work would flow smoothly. But this illusion of control often creates more problems than it solves.
Imagine a digital artist sitting at their desk. Before starting any new piece, they spend hours planning their approach and trying to set everything up perfectly—all in pursuit of that hypothetical perfect piece of work.
What starts as preparation becomes procrastination. The more they try to predict and control their creative process, the more they find themselves paralyzed, unable to begin.
When they finally do start their project, any deviation from their carefully laid plans feels like failure. Their creative practice, which once brought joy, becomes a rigid exercise in following predetermined steps.
When you try to control every aspect of your creative journey, you lose the very thing that makes the work meaningful.
There’s a different way to approach creative work—one that embraces uncertainty while maintaining direction.
Why Intentions Are the Key to Meaningful Creative Work
Intentions shift the focus from the outcome to the process. Unlike goals, which try to define a hypothetical end point, intentions clarify how you want to show up in your work right now and why that work matters. This subtle but powerful shift creates a foundation for creativity that is grounded, flexible, and deeply fulfilling.
Here’s what makes intentions so effective:
They flow with your reality: While goals lock you into a fixed hypothetical path, intentions evolve naturally with your creative exploration. This flexibility allows you to adapt to new insights and opportunities while staying true to your purpose.
They root you in values: Intentions reflect what matters most to you, creating a personal connection to your work that sustains you through challenges and uncertainty.
They embrace the process: By focusing on how you want to approach your work, intentions encourage presence and engagement in the creative process itself.
Consider these contrasting examples:
Goal: “Complete this project in two weeks to add to my portfolio.”
Intention: “Approach this project with curiosity and focus, allowing each step to inform the next.”
The benefit of this approach is that when you stop fixating on future outcomes and instead focus on showing up intentionally in your present work, you’re actually more likely to create meaningful results.
By releasing the need to control the endpoint, you free yourself to fully engage with the work itself—and this presence and dedication naturally leads to better outcomes than any predetermined plan could achieve.
How to Define Your Intentions and Align Them with Core Values
Take a moment to consider what truly matters to you. Ask yourself:
- What values guide my creative work? (For example: authenticity, exploration, beauty, innovation, connection)
- Which past projects felt the most meaningful, and why?
Think about areas of interest that resonate with you or inspire:
- How do these overlap with the core values you have articulated?
Once you’ve identified your core values, consider how they might guide your creative practice. Articulate your commitment to explore that area of interest by using action verbs that describe your commitment: “to explore, to create, to discover, to express.”
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- Don’t disguise goals as intentions by adding “intentionally” to an outcome
- Watch out for “states of being” vs. process—if you’re describing what you want to be (“a successful artist”) rather than how you want to work (“exploring art with curiosity”), you’re likely setting a goal rather than an intention
- Remember that intentions can evolve—don’t treat them as permanent commitments
Congratulations, you have just articulated an intention connected to a core value!
Putting Intentions into Practice
Think of your intentions as a compass rather than a destination on a map. They point you in the right direction while leaving room for discovery and surprise along the way.
But having a compass is just the beginning—you need to take steps in your chosen direction. Here’s how to connect your intentions with meaningful action:
Start Small and Specific
Choose one intention.
Intention: “To explore color and form with curiosity and openness.”
Action: “Spend 30 minutes each morning experimenting with new color combinations in my sketchbook.”
Use Regular Check-ins to Stay Aligned
- Start each work session by reviewing your intentions
- End each day with a quick journal entry about how your actions aligned with your intentions
- Weekly review: What moments felt most aligned with your intentions? What pulled you off course?
From Overwhelm to Alignment: Your Next Step
The path to meaningful creative work isn’t about reaching a specific destination—it’s about moving in a direction that aligns with your deepest values. When you shift from chasing outcomes to setting intentional direction, you create space for both structure and spontaneity in your creative practice.
Your next step doesn’t need to be massive. Choose one project you’re working on right now and set a single intention that reflects what matters most to you. Remember, this isn’t about perfection—it’s about presence and purpose in your creative journey.
What intention will guide your creative work today?

Ready to Deepen Your Intentional Creative Practice?
If you’re ready to move beyond surface-level productivity techniques and develop a more meaningful approach to your creative work, I invite you to explore my Intention by Design course. This hands-on program will guide you through the process of crafting clear intentions, aligning them with your values, and transforming your creative practice from the inside out.
Sources and Further Reading
- Ordóñez, L. D., Schweitzer, M. E., Galinsky, A. D., & Bazerman, M. H. (2009). Goals gone wild: The systematic side effects of overprescribing goal setting. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 23(1), 6–16. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMP.2009.37007999 ↩︎