Intention Academy

Intention Academy creates coaching programs and interactive tools to help you focus, find new direction, and take control of the life ahead of you.

07/07/2026

"It can feel like the ground beneath me is constantly moving."

A personal reflection from Dr. David Chorpenning, founder of Intention Academy 👉

I came of age in the late 60s and 70s — a period that felt like extraordinary change. But this moment feels different. AI, politics, even my relationships are evolving in ways I never expected. The pace can leave you wondering where you fit, what deserves your attention, and how to move forward with confidence.

Not because any one change is overwhelming — because so many are happening at once.

Three things that helped me:

01. Stop feeding the noise. I stopped listening to the news and asked my family to tell me only what directly affected us. My anxiety dropped almost immediately. It wasn't the information itself creating most of the stress. It was the endless speculation, commentary, predictions — and my own reactions to it.

02. Cross the river wisely. I fly fish, and crossing a fast-moving river feels a lot like navigating change. I can't control the current — but I can choose the widest, shallowest crossing, angle downstream, and keep two points of contact before each step.

03. Return to intention. Stop asking "How do I control all of this?" and start asking, "Given what's happening, how do I want to respond?"

Write two or three sentences about how you want to respond and where you can make a positive difference. The purpose isn't perfection — it's orientation. So I'll ask you what I ask myself: where are you spending attention you can't influence?

06/29/2026

The problem is not always that we don’t have enough time.

Sometimes the problem is that we give the best parts of our time away first.

Emails. Errands. Scrolling. Busywork. Obligations. None of it is necessarily bad, but it can quietly take over the space that should belong to what matters most.

The Big Rocks are different.

They are the things that bring you back to yourself: time with family or friends, exercise, creativity, being outside, learning something new, working on a meaningful project, or contributing to something larger than yourself.

A better week starts by putting those things on the calendar first.

Not someday.
Not “when there’s time.”
First.

Read more on Intention Academy Substack.

06/26/2026

John had been a chiropractor for 40 years — helping hundreds of patients reconnect their mind, body, and emotion.

And yet, when it came to his own creativity, he kept putting it last.

"It feels kind of frivolous," he said.

So it kept getting bumped. Not urgent enough. Not practical enough. Always waiting for the right time.

When John came to Intention Academy, he didn't overhaul his schedule. He didn't create a new routine. He just set one clear, specific intention around creativity — and committed to returning to it every day.

Six months later, he's painting every week.

Not because his life got easier. Because he stopped talking himself out of the part of himself that needed it most.

That's what intention does. It doesn't just move one thing. It moves you.

Most of us have a version of what John had. Something we've learned to call "frivolous" so it's easier to skip.

What's yours?

06/23/2026

"It feels kind of frivolous."

That's what John said about something he'd always valued — but kept pushing aside.

Sound familiar?

The things we dismiss as nice-to-haves are often the ones we miss most. The good news: you don't need a plan. You just need a clear intention and the willingness to stay connected to it.

Swipe to see what that looked like in practice.

06/12/2026

Most people spend years wanting the same things.

A new career. Better health. More time for what matters.

The shift doesn't happen when you want hard enough.

It happens the moment it becomes an intention.

Wanting says "I'd love to someday."
Intention says "I will. Starting now."

What's one thing you've been wanting that deserves to become an intention this week?

06/06/2026

Most people set the same goals every year and wonder why nothing changes.

It's not a motivation problem. It's a process problem.

We've spent 40 years studying what actually moves people forward — and it comes down to four steps. Swipe through each one.

01 — Pause & Sort the Noise. Figure out what you actually want, not what you're told to want.

02 — Build on What's Already Worked. Start from your strengths, not your failures.

03 — Activate Your Subconscious. Give your brain a clear target and it becomes your search engine.

04 — Put the Big Rocks in First. Protect your intention before everything urgent fills the space.

Four steps. One clear direction.

05/19/2026

Do you ever feel like your life could be… more?

More clear. More meaningful. More aligned with who you already are.

Here’s what most people miss: intention setting works because it changes what your brain pays attention to.

Your brain filters millions of inputs every second. Without intention, you react to what’s loudest, easiest, or most urgent.

Set a clear intention? Your attention shifts.

You start noticing opportunities. Patterns click. Decisions get clearer. You stop drifting and start moving with direction.

And here’s the part most people get wrong: they think building the life they want means becoming someone new or learning entirely new skills.

But intention coaching starts somewhere different.

It helps you identify what you’re already naturally good at—your strengths, instincts, patterns, and abilities—and learn how to sharpen and apply them with intention.

Because the answer is often already there. You just haven’t been taught how to see it.

Change what you look for.
Change what you see.
Change the life you build.

What’s one area of life you want more clarity in?

05/15/2026

There's a part of your brain that's always working, even when you think you're resting.

Scientists call it the Default Mode Network. We call it your built-in search engine.

Here's what the research shows: when you vividly imagine your future self — with a specific, committed intention — this network activates at 8x the level of any other mental state tested.

That's not a figure of speech. That's an fMRI result.

Most people let this network run on default — replaying the past, drifting, wandering. Intentionalists give it a target. And once it has one, it starts working for you 24 hours a day.

Swipe for the full breakdown.

05/08/2026

What if showing up for the people you love isn't about having all the answers? What if it's just about remembering who you are?

Rooted in science, this approach starts with one simple question: what are you already good at? From there, you build what Dr. David Chorpenning calls a "touchstone." A reminder of your strengths that you can come back to when things get hard.

Because hard moments happen to everyone. The principal calls. Your kid is in an accident. Life gets overwhelming fast. In those moments, you don't have time to talk yourself into being a good parent or partner. But if you've already done the work, you don't need to. You just come back to what you know is true: "I am a caring father. I am a supportive partner. That is who I am."

When you know who you are, you know how to act.

This is the foundation of the Intention Academy.

05/05/2026

In 1995, a Harvard neuroscientist ran an experiment that quietly changed everything we thought we knew about the brain.

Two groups. One piano exercise. Five days.

Group A practiced physically — fingers on keys, two hours a day. Group B sat at the piano and only imagined playing. No movement. Not a single key pressed.

After five days, brain scans showed identical structural changes in both groups. The motor cortex reorganized the same way whether the practice was real or imagined.

The brain couldn't tell the difference.

This isn't a metaphor. It's measurable neuroscience — verified by transcranial magnetic stimulation. Alvaro Pascual-Leone published it in Harvard Medical School's own research.

What it means practically: every time you set a vivid, specific intention, you are physically building the neural architecture to get there. Before you take a single step. Before anything changes externally.

Your brain is already rehearsing the future you've decided on.

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Manitou Springs, CO

Website

https://www.intention-academy.com/

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