What does intentional living mean? And why does it matter? The broad definition of intentional living is, an individual’s intent to live life within their beliefs and morals. Everything that you do in a day is done with consciousness and intent.
Anthony, from Break The Twitch, describes intentional living as having your short-term actions align with your long-term visions. Intentional living is spending most of our time on a day to day basis doing these short-term actions to reach our long-term goals.
Knowing your values and behaving in line with your values is what makes your every-day life feel right. Living this way can lead to greater overall happiness and accomplishments, and that’s why intentional living matters.
Firstly, to live intentionally you must…
The first, and most important step, is to know your why!
You cannot adopt an intentional way of life without knowing why you are doing it and what you are living for! (Yikes, that sounds pretty deep. Don’t worry, it’s not!) Knowing why you do your job & why you are friends with your friends – and being happy with those choices. Intentional living is recognising what choices you are not happy with, re-assessing them and changing the way you live accordingly.
I think intentional living is also knowing that you have a choice.
Author and motivational speaker, John Maxwell, is an advocate for intentional living. He describes it as:
“Rather than accepting your day, lead your day.”
… powerfull 😍
How you can start living more intentionally today
- Write down your top 3 values & priorities in life.
- Ask yourself, did you do something today that supported each of these values.
- If not, how could you have done your day differently to ensure you lived according to your values.
- Now imagine your ideal life. Does your life now, match that? If not, what can you do today & the next day to be one step further to the life you really want.
Below is an example of what this might look like…
Most of us will have a lot more than 3 values! But it’s good to start with your most important 3, and actively live your day to day life according to them, and go from there.
When you align your actions with your values, you will see great changes in your happiness, your productivity & your relationships. So what are you waiting for?
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