THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO INTENTIONAL LIVING

 

 

So what exactly is “intentional living”? If you follow many self-help and lifestyle gurus, I’m sure you’ve seen this phrase gets thrown around a couple of times. Intentional living is creating a life with purpose that is aligned with your highest values. If you read our post about our val-you checklist which you can find here, we listed the seven areas of life which are……

• Mental
• Financial
• Vocational
• Spiritual
• Social
• Physical
• Familial

Knowing your core values is important with living intentionally because this is the “base” of your life. To live purposefully, you have to get clear on what you enjoy and don’t enjoy doing. If you feel stuck on identifying your highest values, here are some questions to gain clarity.

1. What activities give you the most satisfaction?

 

     2.  Describe a time when you felt euphoria.

 

     3. What did you always gravitate towards when you were a child or adolescent?

 

     4.  What makes you curious (what do you love to research)?

 

     5.  What skills do you desire to have or already have that you think would be valuable to the marketplace?

 

    6.  What are your proudest moments and why?

 

Strategically Structure

When we decide to live intentionally, we are choosing to take 100% responsibility for the experiences in our lives. That means being aware of our thoughts and surroundings and planning the days with our values in mind. If you haven’t utilized a planner or scheduler on your electronic device, we highly recommend it. This will allow you to see how much time you are spending on given tasks, keeps you accountable, and helps you see the process of your desired outcome develop into fruition. When we plan ahead, our energy and productivity levels increase drastically. If this isn’t enough to convince you, we will list five more reasons why mastering your day with a plan is the key to living the life you love.

 

1) Bye, bye stress!

 

• Ok, well not exactly but you get our drift. When you know exactly what needs to be done for the day or the week, your stress levels will decrease. This gives you more energy to focus on the tasks that need the most attention.

2)   Visualization

• By dedicating yourself to the tasks that consume your week, you will have the opportunity to see things slowly come together. And each time you feel frustrated in the process, visualize yourself at the finish line.

   3)   Retention

• When you get used to your routine, you will naturally retain more information from doing specific activities. And your body will respond to how early you wake up or what time you eat breakfast to the point that you won’t need to check the clock every hour or get into a panic when you forget a deadline.

 

   4)   Pushes away the distractions

• By sticking to a schedule, especially on a busy day, you’re able to put away the phone, tablet, or any other distraction that would hinder the progress.

 

   5)   Self-Reflection

• When you are documenting everything, this gives you data to do a self-reflection. You can evaluate your progress and see what is working and what isn’t.

Intentional living, in a nutshell, is the practice of incorporating the things you love in your day to day life. Values and priorities are ever-changing and are all part of the process. With societal expectations and pressures that point us in the direction that we are “supposed” to go, intentional living gives us a breath of fresh air and the liberty to live life on our own terms.

What does intentional living mean to you? We would like to hear your perspective on living an intentional life and the goals you’ve set in place if you’re in the process of reaching that destination.

 

Lots of love,

Jasmine and Phrieda