Intentional living is a term thrown around in discussions about personal growth and development. But what does it mean, and how do you apply it to your life?
I will answer those questions and give you all the information you need to get started on an intentional journey in your own life!
What is Intentional Living?
In a nutshell, intentional living follows the road map you have created that leads to your vision for your life.
In other words, if you have dreamed of having a specific life, you know what you need to do to make it happen, and you are taking action on it every single day…you are living intentionally.
More complicated than it sounds?
Yes.
As a young mother, I existed in a day-to-day life where I never knew what would happen. Some days I would wake up with a list of things I needed to get done. By breakfast, someone could be running a fever, another one would be in a bad mood and crying, and by lunch, I had cleaned up twelve messes, cuddled a feverish baby, chased a wild toddler, was exhausted, and forgot my list. My life was not my own, and the only intentional thing in my day was trying to remain calm among the chaos.
Intentional living is not easy if you think about it as an all-encompassing strategy that needs to be implemented all at once to completely overhaul your life in one step.
When I started my personal growth journey, I didn’t overhaul my life all at once.
As I learned more, I began to implement new strategies and practices one at a time. Some very successfully…and others I scrapped altogether because they didn’t work for me.
Intentional living changes your perspective, helps you focus, provides clarity, and produces results, one step at a time.
Want to know more? Read on!
Step 1- Vision
The first step in living an intentional life is to clarify what you want for your life, your dream life.
To learn more about gaining clarity, you can check out this great download. Then, scroll down to ‘Strategy 3’ for a step-by-step guide.
Gaining clarity is the first step because creating a clear vision sets the destination for your journey.
You wouldn’t get in your car and start a road trip without knowing where you are heading. Why would you live your life that way? Knowing the destination gives you purpose and keeps you motivated through challenges.
Over time, this vision for your life may evolve…or change completely. That’s completely ok! You’re allowed to change your mind about your own life.
If you have a change of heart about what you are working towards, or you realize there is a better destination, you can update your vision…and you should.
This exercise is something you can revisit as often as you like, but I recommend you do this at least once a year.
Once you have a clear vision of what you are working toward, you are ready for the next step!
Step 2- Milestones
Now that you have a destination, it’s time to plan your route!
Just like you would do when planning a multiple-day road trip, where you have to decide where you will stop along the way, your milestones on your journey to the very best version of your life are the big goals you need to accomplish to make your dream a reality.
Suppose your dream for your life involves a wildly successful career as a corporate attorney, which affords you an S-Class Mercedes and a house on the beach where you host wine parties with your other highly successful corporate attorney friends, but you have no degree and live in the flyover states. In that case, you have some significant milestones to reach to make your dream a reality.
You need to:
- obtain a bachelor’s degree so you can apply for law school
- Graduate from law school
- Seek employment with a corporation
- Climb the corporate attorney ladder to gain credibility, and build a reputation as a top attorney
- Move to a place that has a beach
- Save up your large salary to buy a beach house and a Mercedes
- Learn all about wine
- Make friends with other corporate attorneys
Those are the milestones on your journey to your dream life!
After identifying your milestones, you’re ready for the next step.
Step 3- Plan
Don’t let this step overwhelm you! Just pick the first milestone.
You don’t need to worry about the second, third, fourth…or tenth milestone until you have completed the first.
In the corporate attorney example from the previous step, the first milestone is to obtain a bachelor’s degree.
In this step, you will plan what actions you need to take to achieve this milestone. For example, this plan might look something like this:
- Determine which school to attend
- Decide on which degree to pursue
- Apply for enrollment
- Figure out how you will pay for it
- Enroll in classes
- Follow your degree plan
- Get good grades
- Graduate with a bachelor’s degree
These are the actions you need to take to get a bachelor’s degree and achieve the first milestone on your journey.
Now we get to the intentional part of intentional living!
Step 4- Take Action
Some milestones take longer to reach than others, depending on where you are in your life and what goal you are working to achieve.
Whether it takes a couple of months…or several years, the process of intentional living is the same.
You are taking action every single day that moves you closer to making the dream for your life a reality.
Some steps in your action plan may take a few minutes; others (like completing a degree plan) take years.
The amount of time it takes to complete the plan and achieve the milestone isn’t important.
The critical part is deciding to wake up every day and do something that gets you closer to your goal.
For completing your bachelor’s degree, this might be:
- Going to class every day
- Doing homework in the evenings and on weekends
- Completing the dreaded group projects
- Giving up time with friends…and losing people you thought were your friends
- Cutting back on your hobbies
- Studying for exams
- Writing papers
- Reading REALLY boring books
- Participating in group discussions that leave you on the brink of an existential crisis
- Tolerating bad professors
- Working through stress and discouragement
- Working to remain focused and motivated when you want to give up
- Continuing to work hard after fail a test you thought you aced
- Re-taking a class you failed
- And last but not least…trusting the curve to save your bacon (fingers crossed)
Continuing to take these actions day after day for four years will end with you wearing a very unattractive yet highly sought after polyester gown and a funny hat, walking across the stage to receive your degree, and a photo op shaking hands with the dean. Success! You will be one milestone closer to your dream life and ready for the next step…applying for acceptance to a law school.
Key Takeaways
Regardless of what your dream life looks like, this process works the same.
Set your destination, mark your milestones, come up with a plan, take action.
Remember, it’s ok to change your destination as many times as you need to. However, if you have achieved a couple of milestones and suddenly realize that this life you dreamed of isn’t for you, and the picture of your dream life in your mind has started to look radically different, it’s time to re-evaluate.
Sit down and gain clarity to see if you need to change course.
The beauty of intentional living is that YOU are steering the ship. You get to decide where you are going and how you get there. So if you arrive at your destination and find out that wine sucks and successful corporate attorneys aren’t the friends for you…set a new goal and start a new journey. It’s YOUR life!
Don’t spend time worrying about wasted time and effort. It’s never a waste. On the contrary, the things you will learn from the experiences you had along the way will benefit you in ways you cannot imagine.
When I set out to finish my finance degree, I thought I would work a corporate finance job for a few years after I graduated. Then, when I was a year from graduating, I realized I had zero desire to work in corporate finance. Furthermore, I had zero desire to work for anyone but myself.
My dream for my life remained essentially unchanged, but the milestones have entirely changed.
I finished my degree, and I don’t regret spending one minute in school. I learned so much, and it has enriched my life and opened doors of opportunity that I could never have imagined. Finishing a degree I didn’t intend to use (in the traditional way) wasn’t wasted time; it was the time that helped me realize what I wanted in life…and that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t pursued that path.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes; that’s how you learn!
You deserve happiness and abundance, whatever form that takes in your life. Now get started!
Don’t forget to drop down to the comments and tell me what big goal you’re working on this year.
