8 Essentials to Live an Intentional Life

We have all heard about Intention and Intentional Living- the dictionary meaning of the word intention is an aim or a plan.

So, what does it mean to live intentionally?

?As Kristin Armstrong puts it- we either live with intention or exit by default!

?What are your long-term goals? Why did you choose the foods that you did for your last meal? Why do you choose to live the lifestyle you are living right now?

?If you can’t answer these questions without giving it some thought, you’re not living intentionally.

I prod you to choose to live an intentional life. Here is my perspective of 8 essentials that would enable you to lead an intentional life:

?Intentional living requires making choices.

You can’t have any intention without having made a choice first. Sit down and choose a direction for your life. What do you want to accomplish? What do you want to own? What kind of life do you want to live? Make some choices and then choose your actions each day in accordance with those objectives.

Evaluate your behavior.

To live an intentional life, you must evaluate and understand yourself. Why do you do the things you do? Why do you fail to do the things you don’t do?

What motivates your actions each day? Are you moving toward short-term pleasure or avoiding short-term pain? Or are your actions directed toward an intentional purpose?

They say think before you act- I would say Intend before you act. Are you heading toward the refrigerator to satisfy your hunger, ease your anxiety, cure your boredom, or fuel your body in a healthy manner for what lies ahead in the next few hours?

Evaluate all of your chosen and avoided behaviors. Learn what make you tick.

Know your values and beliefs.

Knowing your values and beliefs can make it easier to live intentionally. You might have the intention to live a life based on contribution, honesty, or love. Your belief that everyone should be able to read can guide your life. Giving your values and beliefs priority makes many of your formerly challenging decisions obvious.

Important Over Easy.

Intentional living stresses taking effective action over personal comfort. It’s about having a higher purpose than taking it easy. Continuously ask yourself, “Is this the most effective action I could be taking?”

Choose your habits.

Most of your habits seemed to develop on their own. It’s important to choose your habits. Habits can mask your intentions by removing the thought process from the equation.

Create your intentions for each day.

You may have a broad intention of having financial freedom. A narrower intention might be to be debt-free. From there, you may have the intention of saving more money so you can pay down your debt faster. Your intention for today might be to avoid any spending that isn’t absolutely necessary.

Be proactive.

Is your apartment lease ending in three months? Start looking for new place. The alternative is to wait until you’re out of time. Then you have few options and you can’t really live intentionally. You’re forced to roll the dice and take whatever you can find on short notice. This is the opposite of intentional living.

Be Mindful.

Mindfulness is the cure to everything one encounters in his/her life. Be mindful of your intentions, thoughts, actions, and goals. If you’re truly mindful, you’re already living an intentional life.

An intentional life creates more thought than an unintentional life. You must make conscious decisions and question your thoughts and actions. Habits can be the bane of intentional living unless you chose your habits intentionally.

Be mindful and take responsibility for your results, and you’ll find that more of your results please you.

Please do share your takeaways and feedback from this attempt!