When Energy Meets Intention: Why Your Goals Might Not Be Working (Yet)

We’ve all been told to set goals.

Be SMART about them.

Write them down.

Manifest them.

Chase them.

But what if you’ve done all that... and still feel like you’re spinning?

What if the issue isn’t the plan... but the emotional energy driving it?

At Turning Leaves®, we don’t just teach productivity. We teach people how to think differently about change... because transformation doesn’t happen in a spreadsheet. It happens in the nervous system, the emotional landscape, and the micro-decisions that shape our days.

This month inside our Insight & Impact Focus Group, we’ve been exploring what it really takes to design a life that works... without performing, perfecting, or pretending.

And Week 4?

It’s the payoff: the week where we stop chasing change and start living in emotional agreement with ourselves.

Here’s the reality of it all:

Most people don’t fail because they’re unmotivated. They fail because their energy and intentions are out of alignment.

They want peace but live in chaos. 

They want connection but people-please themselves into resentment. 

They want freedom but make decisions from fear and scarcity.

This isn’t a mindset issue... it’s a misalignment between values and behavior.

Why Alignment Matters More Than Goals

Think of alignment as your internal GPS.

When you say you want one thing, but your actions are driven by another (like guilt, people-pleasing, or anxiety), you end up self-sabotaging... even if you don’t mean to.

We don’t fix this with more to-do lists.

We fix it by asking:

• Is the life I’m building loyal to what I say I want?

• Is the energy I’m bringing into my relationships, work, and routines actually congruent with my aspirations?

• Am I in constant performance... or real presence?

These are the questions we help people answer every week. Because when energy and intention finally align, everything starts to feel less forced... and more fulfilling.

Try This Emotional Alignment Check-In

Here’s a simple practice to try this week:

1. Name your aspiration. Not your task list. Your emotional target. 

→ “I want to feel grounded in how I show up at work.” 

→ “I want to feel safe in my own skin.”

2. Track your dominant emotions this week. Were you anxious, frustrated, hopeful, numb? Write it down.

3. Connect the dots. Were your actions moving you closer to your aspiration... or feeding your old habits?

This is emotional intelligence in motion... and it’s how we move from coping to clarity.

What Happens When You Align

You start to:

• Say no without guilt.

• Make choices that energize rather than deplete.

• Navigate stress without unraveling.

• Honor your nervous system instead of ignoring it.

• Experience peace without having to earn it.

And that’s the real win. Not perfection. Self-loyalty.

Want to Go Deeper?

If this message resonates, you’re not alone. And you’re not some project that needs to be fixed.

The Insight & Impact Focus Group is where we go beyond coping and step into total emotional performance... with real tools, real transformation, and zero performative fluff.

You can start exploring today through the Total Emotional Performance™ App or dive deeper through our advanced membership options.

It’s never too late to realign.

Because the moment your energy and intention stop arguing? 

That’s the moment everything begins to work.