How To Live Your Life Intentionally
Do you ever feel like you're living on autopilot, just going through the motions without really experiencing life? If so, you're not alone. Many of us go through life without really thinking about what we're doing or why we're doing it. We get caught up in the daily grind, then before we know it, years have passed, and we wonder where the time went.
Living with intention allows you to start taking control and begin creating a life that aligns with what you want. It's doing things on purpose and making deliberate choices to help steer your life in the direction you want to go.
Here are a few effective steps you can implement today to start living with intention:
Identify Your Values and Goals
Before you can start to live with intention, you must know what your intentions are. What’s important to you right now? What do you want to achieve in life? These are the kind of questions you should ask yourself, reflect on these them and write your answers down. Once you have a clear understanding of what you intend to do, use it as a guide for making decisions and taking steps towards your goals.
Build New Habits
Building new habits creates a positive and productive routine that supports your goals and desires. Not only does it help you physically embody the version of yourself you wish to become, but it also helps you practice discipline, which is key for success in any area of your life you're currently working on.
To incorporate new habits into your lifestyle, create a plan and remember that consistency is key. Stick to your new habits until they become second nature.
Practice Discipline
Living with intention requires discipline. Without it, there will be days where you don’t do things deliberately and you want to just run on autopilot. Although there is nothing wrong with living by default occasionally, if you feel strongly about improving the direction of your life, you must know how to get back on track after falling off.
Discipline requires focus, determination, and perseverance. For example, if you set a goal to save money, make a plan to cut back on unnecessary expenses and set aside a certain percentage of your income each month. If one month you forget to save or can't afford to put anything into your savings, don't punish yourself by giving up, simply start again the next month. If you set a goal to read a book every week, commit to reading for at least an hour every day. If you forget to read for two evenings in a row, pick the book back up the next evening and start again.
Be Mindful of What You Consume
A good diet isn’t just what you feed your body, it’s also what you feed your mind. Be intentional about the foods you eat, the amount of alcohol you consume, the media you digest mentally whether that be through the news or social, and other activities that support your health and well-being. Learn to recognise the things that make you feel good and the things that don't. Do less of what doesn’t make you feel good, and do more of what does.
For instance, if you notice that consuming social media makes you feel anxious or stressed, challenge yourself to a social media detox or limit your time on the app, unfollow accounts that trigger negative emotions and make you feel as though you have to compare. Instead, deliberately follow feel-good accounts, the kind of accounts that make you feel hopeful and motivated to become a happier you.
