February 7, 2023
At the beginning of January, I spoke about setting GOOD INTENTIONS instead of New Year Resolutions. Here is another reason why.
Living with intention increases your focus on the things and people that most matter to you.
According to realsimplegood.com, “intentionality” helps you understand the importance and Purpose of your bigger vision and directs your mind and actions….. to help you achieve it.
Do you sometimes feel like you’re going through the motions in life with no purpose?
Try to create a daily intention to have a sense of Purpose for the day.
Here are “5” Steps to Live with “Intention.”
- Intention Setting
“To feel the day, you have to have the intention to feel the day.”
~Brendon Burchard
Intention precedes feeling, but most people don’t know that; you may have a feeling … but you need to set an intention first.
The intention would be …. How would I like to show up at work, for my family, for myself?
It can take 30 seconds to ask these questions. And then…..what would I love to experience or make happen?
Intentional living doesn’t take that much longer. It will only take a second to enter the situation more intentionally.
2. Bring Purpose to the Situation
This is the process of bringing Purpose to a situation. The words “purpose” and “intention” can be interchangeable.
Stay with me here…….
Right now, I’m replacing the word “intention” with “purpose” ….. for a specific reason because people have started to think a “purpose” has a more profound meaning.
But ultimately, Purpose can look like daily intention.
Research shows that the more daily intentions you have, the more you will say you have a purposeful life. So, therefore, the more daily intention you have, the more you sense your life is purposeful. Now that is profound!
3. Keep Other’s Needs in Mind
Whether it be your partner, family, or work team.
Give more intention to each life situation and more presence while you’re there. You may be pleasantly surprised by how that will make you feel.
For example, you are taking a long walk with your partner. Movement and quality time…… are priorities. Make sure your favorite activities make it into your schedule to …. prioritize self-care.
“HOW YOU DO ONE THING IS HOW YOU DO EVERYTHING.”
That will make you better at everything that you do, but also have the added benefit of increasing the odds that you feel your life has a purpose.
4. Be Present in the Moment
Being in the present moment, here or now, means you are aware and mindful of what is happening at this Moment. As a result, you won’t be distracted by the past or worried about the future.
Choosing a purpose or intention puts “you” in the driver’s seat by cultivating the feelings you want to experience in life and your career.
Make self-improvement a way of life……more intention…… more presence in life…….and more presence in life’s situations.
5. Pre-Frame Your Mind
Pre-frame your day with “block scheduling” of what you need to accomplish.
For example, after exercising in the morning, I check my email and social media. You could set a timer to do this. To return the email and respond to social media in a set time.
I also set a 45-minute “power hour” to accomplish any work I want to do. So I will focus on it for 45 minutes, followed by a ten or 15-minute break, and repeat until I accomplish my “to-do” list. This is an example of an intentional way of living through a workday.
Think about pre-framing your mind with an intention on your next phone call, Zoom meeting, or your next team meeting. Entering your day with a little more energy of intention makes you feel like you are taking the reins back of life.
Make it a way of life. We can all improve here, me included. We may also fall in and out of this everyday practice, but we can always start again at any moment.
Living with intention also means being patient and compassionate with yourself and leaving room to make mistakes.
Intentional living comes from living our values.
Meaning….. taking action and making decisions that are important to you and true to who you are. Living with intentions means living a better-balanced life filled with meaning and Purpose!
Until next week……live your life with intentions and trust your truth to who you are!
Bye for now!