How to Live Intentionally
Intentionality, what a dream! Life has a unique way of intervening with this goal. Responsibilities in hand, deadlines to meet, people to take care of.. the list could go on. Sometimes we find ourselves stuck on a loop, of just getting by, not even being able to fathom how another week has passed. How can we reclaim this time in a purposeful way?
Sometimes “free time” can send us into a panic. There’s so many things we desire to do, but feel the pressure of little time to make it all happen. I have heard many times, “I didn’t even know where to start, so I just never got around to starting”. It takes intentionality to get started, in addition to feeling confident in the steps we are taking to move forward. In order to reclaim this time, and make choices that are intentional, we have to first recognize what our values and priorities are. When we feel confidence and clarity around the choices we are making, getting started can feel less daunting.
To help build clarity around your values, consider engaging in these activities:
To help build clarity around understanding your priorities, consider engaging in these activities:
After you have identified both your values and priorities, we can take some action steps.
Be honest about what values and priorities are right for you!
All values are good values, which is why it is so challenging to select what is right for us. Remember, that these values can change at any point if you need them to, but expecting yourself to uphold all values at once might be an impossible task. This is often why we ask you to narrow down your values to a top five, we can’t expect ourselves to live up to all values at once.
Which ones feel right to you today? Which five feel like they have the potential to enhance your life? Which five are you naturally gravitating towards?
Remember, they all are good! Remove the pressure to pick certain values & reflect over what values feel natural to you. Could being authentic about what values you align with allow you to live more intentionally? Are you “working against the grain” to fit with other values?
Visualize what your values & priorities look like in action.
While spending more time with family might be a priority we share, what “more time” looks like could be different for all of us.
Remember that you are able to show up in a positive way when you are honest about what you have to offer. Your ability to show up intentionally poses the risk of becoming more challenging when we feel overextended or overwhelmed.
Set or block time aside for things that are important to you.
While we wish that we could give all of our time to each priority, there simply isn’t enough time. The goal is that the intentional practices are within reach of what is possible. We are not trying to work against ourselves by setting goals that are impractical.
How are we going to determine which thing deserves the most time? This is where your priorities are going to be so important to have identified. Being a wife, a mom & a business woman might all be important to you, but which is taking priority for you right now? Does the time you spend on each role reflect these priorities?
Practice communicating these boundaries when necessary.
Life will continue to happen as you are navigating through these values & priorities. As life continues to move forward, it is going to resist the change that you might have identified needs to happen. The change will be the most challenging as you begin. Navigating how you want to communicate these changes with others, before the conversations inevitably occur can be helpful.
Take a breath before accepting or declining opportunities that have potential to align or misalign with your values.
In addition to life resisting change, our own habits or muscle memory might get in the way as well. It’s hard to say no, and challenging to decline opportunities. Identifying your values & priorities does not mean you have to start saying “no” to everything, but you might view these opportunities in a different way now. Taking a deep breath, or asking for time to ponder before responding can help build clarity around making a decision that’s best for YOU.
Give yourself permission to change your mind if you recognize a behavior is taking you away from your values & priorities even after you’ve already committed.
Sometimes our muscle memory will take over and we might reflect in the hindsight that we committed to something that doesn’t align with our values. Give yourself permission to change your mind & patience as you are navigating life in a new way.
Recognize that regardless of the action, the new awareness is a sign of growth. There is time to celebrate that as well!
Intentionality works best when paired with authenticity. Remember that intentionality will come more naturally when we are working in line with our values, rather than working against them. Utilize honesty as you move towards this new life. Lots of patience and grace will be important when starting to reorganize time to reflect your priorities. Remember, even though it might be daunting to start, you already have the tools within yourself to begin!