The Intention Map (Feelings-First Annual Planning)
Pick the feeling first, then map the four life areas that have to support it.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 90%
Lemieux does not set goals or resolutions — she sets intentions, and builds the year from the inside out. She starts by asking how she actually wants to feel (peace, clarity, love-driven decisions), writes that feeling in the middle of a page, and draws four boxes around it for emotional development, spiritual development, finances/business, and relationships. Each box gets an intention that matches the central feeling, plus a strategy to support it. The claim is that mapping a life around your feelings, rather than starting with goals, is what produces fulfilment once everything is built.
Origin
Born from Lemieux's own experience of telling her therapist 'my insides don't match my outsides' — her external life was beautiful while she carried chaotic exhaustion internally. She now runs an annual challenge on it each January and teaches it in her book and podcast.
Core principles
- 01Goals and resolutions are downstream of how you want to feel, not upstream.
- 02A year built on external targets leaves your insides misaligned with your outsides.
- 03Four life areas — emotional, spiritual, business/finances, relationships — must each carry the same intention.
- 04Each box needs a strategy, not just a wish.
- 05Fulfilment is the test of a plan, not achievement.
How to run it
- 1
Check in with the feeling
Ask how you actually want to feel this year — peace, clarity, love driving your decisions. Most people haven't checked in internally for a long time.
Watch out Do not skip to goals. Starting with goals is the failure mode this framework exists to fix.
- 2
Write the feeling at the centre
Put the single chosen feeling on a piece of paper as the anchor for everything else.
- 3
Draw the four boxes
Around the central feeling, draw four boxes: emotional development, spiritual development, finances or business, and relationships.
- 4
Set a matching intention per box
In each box, set an intention that serves the overall life intention — so all four areas pull toward the same internal state.
- 5
Attach a strategy to each
Give every box a strategy so the intention has a mechanism to move forward, supporting how you want to feel.
Pro tip Pair with the Peace Decision Filter — use the central feeling as the gate on in-year decisions.
In the wild
Lemieux described to her therapist a life that looked beautiful externally while she carried chaotic exhaustion inside that never went away. Rather than set more goals, she rebuilt her planning around the feeling she wanted, mapping the four life areas to support it.
→ She frames alignment as the precondition for sustainable growth — internal resources first, then exponential external growth becomes possible.
Common mistakes
Starting with goals
Goal-first planning produces the 'I hit the number and thought I'd feel differently' trap. The feeling has to be the input, not the hoped-for output.
Intentions without strategy
A box with a feeling written in it and no mechanism attached doesn't move; each of the four areas needs a strategy to support the intention.
Is it for you?
Best for
Entrepreneurs setting a year who have already learned that achievement alone doesn't move the internal needle.
Not ideal for
Teams needing hard operational OKRs; this is a personal alignment map, not a company plan.
From the transcript
“I don't set goals and I don't set resolutions ever in my life. I set intentions and I base my year and how I'm going…”
“I write that on a piece of paper. And then around that I draw four boxes for the different areas of my life for emotional…”
“Check in with your feelings and then map out a life that supports your feelings instead of starting with your goals and that will help…”
From the episode
Ashley Lemieux: How Entrepreneurs Can Overcome Loss, Heal, and Build a Thriving Business
Ashley Lemieux