Intention setting
Intention setting is naming what you want to focus on before a session, usually in a single sentence.
Intention setting is the practice of deciding, before a session or a stretch of time begins, what you want it to be about. It is usually one sentence, written down, and it describes a direction rather than a demanded outcome.
It matters because it gives your attention something to organise itself around, and because it gives you something concrete to return to afterwards. Without it, sessions blur together and it becomes hard to say what changed.
A useful intention is specific enough to recognise. "Be better" cannot be noticed. "Say the thing I have been avoiding about my brother" can.
An intention is a focus, not a promise about the outcome. Sessions frequently go somewhere other than where the intention pointed, and that is not a failure of the intention. It still did its job by giving you a starting position.