Diary of a Human Being: What Intentional Living Looks Like For Me

Mindfulness

Jun 16

Recently, I’ve been working to change my life for the better. This probably seems like such a broad goal, but I promise, it’s not. I wanted to be more intentional in my life. I wanted to do things on a day to day basis with more meaning. I wanted to spend less time scrolling mindlessly on my phone.

I by no means have this 100% figured out. And I do envision this being a lifelong practice. That being said, I thought it would be interesting to share what I’ve been doing to be more mindful in my life and create more meaning in it.

Let me know if this resonates with you, I’d love to hear about your journey to intentionality as well!

Step 1: Commit to Intentional Living

My first step to being more mindful in my life was committing to it. I actively decided that I wanted to create a life with more meaning in it, and from there, I was able to pave the way toward that goal. The foundation laid in my understanding that this was a meaningful goal for me. I wanted to achieve this goal. The results mattered to me. This allowed myself to make the commitment to myself without giving up on it.

For me, this meant working with a coach to help me toward my goals. (If you’re reading this, hi Catherine!) I’ve never worked with a life coach before, but have worked with a business coach over the last year. I’ve found the results with my business coach so transformative that I thought it would be useful to work with a coach in my personal life as well. What I like about working with coaches is the accountability I get from working with them. I don’t 100% have to self-motivate, I have them to lean on for support. This really works for me and makes it more likely for me to achieve my goals.

I do want to mention, I could have totally achieved these goals without a coach. This is not a requirement for intentional living, but it can help accelerate the results if you’d like to get there faster. I was privileged enough to have the abundance and space necessary to be able to work with Catherine, my coach, but if that’s not the case for you, don’t let that discourage you. You absolutely can also achieve your goals without a coach, you will just have to work a little bit harder to stay motivated on the path there.

Step 2: Make a Plan

Something I’ve learned through working in my business is creating a plan is key to achievement. For example, I work much faster at developing websites when I have a mockup in place. This mockup is my roadmap toward achieving my goal: developing a website. This same thought process can be applied to your daily life, and for me, it was an integral step in my path toward intentional living.

With the help of my coach, I started with a list, figuring out my goals and what would help me feel more intentional in my life. Here is an example of the list we created together:

Spend less time on my phone
Spend more time outside, moving my body
Nourish myself in a way that makes me feel healthy and like the best version of myself
Develop hobbies that connect to my creativity
Cultivate more meaningful friendships (or nourish the ones I already have)

Now that I had my list, I was able to go in and create micro-goals for each goal. I like micro-goals because it allows me to see positive forward momentum toward my larger goals each and every day. It allows me to feel productive, even if I sometimes don’t achieve all my micro-goals.

This will make more sense if I explain it with an example. One of the things I did to help combat my phone use was create a list of activities I could do instead of scrolling on my phone. From there, I turned this into a stylized wallpaper I could use as a background on my phone. From there, any time I mindlessly pick up my phone, I see that list and am reminded of my goals. This makes it more likely that I will follow through and end up doing one of the activities from my list as opposed to scrolling.

To learn more about setting productive goals and following through with them, I recommend reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. This book has been instrumental in my ability to build new habits and uphold them. It’s because of this book that I’m now officially a routine person, which really helps me be the best version of myself each and every day.

Step 3: Create an Intentional Life

For me, creating an intentional life means living my life with meaning in each and every moment. It means connecting to my feelings, connecting to the world around me and connecting to those around me. It means doing things that bring me joy and letting go of the rest.

It also means understanding that not everything in life will always be fun. (None of us enjoy going to the DMV!) It means knowing that sometimes we have to be responsible and do things we don’t want to do, but we will feel fantastic for following through with those responsibilities.

Ultimately, it means living a less performative life. It means listening to the inklings of our soul and following through with them. Do you have a desire to paint? Do it. Do you have a desire to move? Do it. Do you have a desire to change careers? Do it. Your life is yours. And it is up to you to live it with the most meaning, savoring each moment you get to spend here on earth. It’s a gift, whether you realize it now or not.

Conclusion

What do you think? Do you think you live an intentional life? Does what I’ve shared today make sense? I’d love to hear your thoughts on what intentional living means to you. Let’s discuss!