Intentional living is essential to tap into authentic life and happiness. The concept is not about selfish living, but for living intentionally with joy and satisfaction. To live intentionally with happiness at the core, it is crucial to understand the what, why, and how of intentional living.

Intentional living is the concept of making active decisions for yourself. By implication, it means living in a manner that aligns with your sense of purpose and values. Especially in our modern world, intentional living means exploring your dreams, priorities, values, and goals to discover the things that make you feel alive and happy. The opposite of intentionally living is drifting through life without intention and purpose. This is because the world we live in today encourages excesses and selfishness. Like essentialism and minimalism, intentional living requires that you say no to many things and yes to only a few things. Intentional living is different from one person to another. Hence, there are no two ways to become intentional with your life. Therefore, it starts by re-evaluating your own personal goals, finances, relationships, mental and physical health, habits and values. With this, you will be able to underline your core by defining and defending what is essential to you.

The core of intentional living

Imagine waking up every morning to a life that energises you in every way. Try to imagine if you can craft every relationship and routine in your life in careful ways that resonate with you. By uniquely designing your life, you will feel alive and live a more fulfilled life than others. This is the concept of intentional living – Putting yourself at the helms of your life affairs and dancing to your very own tune. Many people refer to intentional living as living life to the brightest. As with light, it allows your most vibrant, and truest self to find expression.

Looking back at a few years of your life, you will discover that you have probably spent the majority of your days without a deep sense of happiness or contentment. If you dread going to a job or feel stuck repeating the routines and cycles over again, then you are desperately in need of inner light to help you shed some weight off your shoulders. Although it sounds like a fairytale, an intentional dream life does exist. It only takes your intention and a dogged resolve to get there.

The “why” of intentional living

As with every area of your life, your brightest days will not land in your laps. Instead, you need to go after it. It is like knowing that you have only one shot at life; Hence, you have to give it your all. By making conscious choices every day, you will produce the desired outcome and feel good about the result. Although it means living a good life on purpose, it doesn’t just justify why you should do it.

A key to living a happier life

Intentional living is like creating an art piece. Like all pieces, you need to fill all the spots with critical and enriching colors and details. Learning how to live intentionally means leading a life with purpose and meaning. It also allows you to tap into certain powers and designs that can create monumental changes in your life.

Deciding to live based on what you want, no matter how small, will ultimately amplify personal happiness no matter the circumstance. Imagine you have a detailed roadmap of what you want out of life. Instead of living in a state of flux, you will align yourself to the center so that you can make the most out of life.

It doesn’t mean you need to adhere to a specific rule and rigid schedule. Instead, it lets you create a flexible plan that works for you, backed by understanding that change is the only permanent thing with life. 

Say, you start jogging every 4 am, and after two days, you can’t keep up. You only started at 4 am because you’ve heard Karen at work did so. Instead of following every laid pattern without question, the principle means composing every part of your day to life with more happiness and satisfaction. Maybe you want to have a jog in the afternoon instead.

A key to better understanding of needs

Many people buy what they don’t need because they don’t know what they actually need. An indefinite definition of choices means you will go along with every flow, thinking they are all for you. Intentional living is guided by knowing the things that bring fulfilment – A way to distinguish yourself from the crowd if you will. By understanding what you need to be happy, you will make active decisions to make your life better and live it more efficiently.

Intentional living forces you to come to terms with the issues in your life. Not just their definition, it allows you to reassess and analyse them. As a result, you can decide on the patterns to keep and throw out those that contradict your innermost nature.

A key to essential motivation

Motivation is the greatest source of satisfaction. If you want to excel at something, you need to find something that motivates you. Intentional living is an ideal motivator because it allows you to create experiences that create meanings for your life. By creating a life defined by your wants, passion and interest, you can spark some motivation and focus in actions and inactions you need to take to achieve your dreams.

The concept of finding your passion and following it motivates you to take immediate actions where they are needed to birth inspiration in areas of significant importance. As a result, it is capable of shaping your relationship and the way you interact with people, your professional life, family, but most importantly; Yourself. It can even affect your inner balance and be a transformative motivation that will run through every area of your life.

The key to clarity and purpose

The duo of motivation and happiness is driven by clarity. When it comes to making decisions with significant life impact, you cannot understate the importance of clarity. In the modern world we live today it is easy to lose your direction or the sights of things that make you feel alive. In contrast, intentional living offers the benefits of a heightened sense of awareness and clarity that will spark opportunities you didn’t know existed.  

When you are clear on the things you want, you can weigh those that matter to you and those who don’t. Purposeful living predicated by intentional decisions offers a shortcut to weighing things that don’t matter against those that do matters. In other words, you need to find out what is essential in your life. This regards your works tasks, family, relationships, health, etc. Our society will always push superficial things towards us. As a result, it is easier to lose sight of the truths of life. Instead of making choices that won’t add to your experience, you can make better ones.

You might not have experienced this too much, but life is a gift. A clear understanding of this fact allows you to know that you won’t be here forever. Hence, you can weigh the things in your life to shed the ones that don’t serve you in order to focus on personal growth, happiness and love.

The conclusion of the “why”

The best and most effective way to live an intentional life is to do so based on your actions every day. Creating a life that is full of happiness and intention does not happen by chance. However, it also does not require you to make huge changes or an overhaul of every part of your life. Or maybe it does. However, it is in the small and intentional routines that add to a harmonious existence for you and everyone around you that really makes the difference.

To live a happier life, you must gain a better understanding of your needs, wants, who you are and who you really want to be. When you figure this out (it might take a lot of time), you can better weigh it against what you don’t need in life so that you can find clarity. Backup clarity with motivation, and you won’t regret living life to the fullest.

How to live intentionally

The mental phase of intentional living

Like all things with life, change is more mental than physical. Changes happen in phases. Like building a home, you need to lay the foundations first before moving on to lay the blocks. However, to lay the foundations, you must look inwards and get familiar with the reality of what you need and who you are.

Your choices are your responsibility

First of all, you need to understand that life is full of choices and you are responsible for every choice you make. The series of decisions that life throws at you to make are the things that will ultimately make or break you. Whether big or small, you must make the choices to stick to a pattern or break them. Intentional living means identifying the patterns and adjusting them.

Responsible life choice projects ownership. What is Ownership? Ownership is the difference between someone who buckles down and turns his/hers dream into a reality, and another person who won’t realise the potential. For most people, this is what life pursuit is about – The difference between the two categories of people I mentioned earlier. The secret is simple; You are the difference. The constant variable that will determine whether you will realise your dream or not, is yourself.

For example, there are many apps and posts about becoming more focused on your work or starting a business. Although they are well-meaning and want to make you productive, they are not useful until you, by yourself, find the willpower to use them. A book on confidence won’t do any good until you realise that you are the source of negative and run-down talks.

Ownership means being responsible for your choices and the outcomes. Hence, although you might not be responsible for the circumstances, you are responsible for how you react to the circumstances. Life throws many unpredictable questions and situations at you; However, the bottom line is that you get a say in how to answer them. Therefore, the life you have today, is a response of your own decisions and actions.

Playing the excuse game

One way people avoid taking charge of their lives is to make excuses not to go after what they want. Unfortunately, perceived limitations will never let you push yourself beyond your comfort zone. Now that is easier, isn’t it? When it comes to responsibility, you must avoid the fear and the inherent mindset of thinking you will disappoint yourself. Don’t spread your responsibility on other people’s choices, or you will relinquish the power to create the life of your dreams. You are deserving of any success, love, wealth and happiness anyone else receives too; Hence, you must switch your thoughts from excuses to deserving powerful thoughts!

You have strength and power within

Every monumental change that will occur in your life must be from a realisation that you are responsible for the way you live. How bad do you want something? You are responsible for how hard you work for it. You own your own strengths, so use it. Likewise, you own your weaknesses and should work on them. However, it is important to understand that everyone has breakdowns, lazy days and less focus occasionally. Therefore, you must constantly reevaluate the tasks you’re working on to ensure you’re on the right path. Do not get discourage or shameful just because you’ve had a week in the bed. Listen to your body and trust that it tells you when you need a break sometimes too. It’s called; Listening to your intuition.

If you had tried intentional living before and failed, it could be that you placed responsibility and ownership on someone else. Don’t wait for people to change; make the change first. 

Take this test:

• Make a list of excuses you have made before that have stopped you from living the way you wanted.

• Besides each excuse, write the situations when you have given responsibility and ownership to someone else.

• Refuse the excuse by writing how you will take responsibility for your life’s affairs, remember the list and get to work on your dreams.

Discover your core self

After deciding to take responsibility for your life and decisions, you need to discover what you really want out of life. If you have the answer straight away, you are good to go. If you don’t, you might need to look deep down to discover who you are, your values, beliefs and dream. From there, you can come up with ideas as to how you want to create it. As said, there is no universal principle to this because we are different. Hence, you can’t have a one-size-fits recipe for creating an intentional life. With that, you need to be extremely careful not to just draw a conclusion of wanting a Ferrari care just because some influencer you admire have it. Make decisions on your own values and happiness. Material things are NOT happiness.

To find answers to what brings you fulfillment and happiness, you must look inwards and not outwards. Remember, we are still laying the foundations and not building anything just yet.

You have all that it takes

Every child comes into the world with a unique combination of all the talents in the world, beautiful personality, gifts, and predispositions. However, as you mature, expectations by people, your upbringing, environment and society define your potential in this matter. It then might open the doors to stress, fear, and the quest for validation. But that is not to mean that you don’t have a core; You only need to find your way back to your original state. In essence, you have all the potential in the world!

Your core represents the place of deep and accurate expression – A representation of who you are. It is what differentiates you from others. Another way to view it is that parts of you yearns to be free. Most people call it a gut feeling. If you listen to it, it will pull better things towards you.

Look to your childhood for clues

Remember, I said you didn’t start having fears and quest for validation until you were older. Hence, if there is any change to reunite with your core self, you should look to your childhood. The reason is; that stage of life represents the purest version of who you are, a stage where the world hasn’t influenced you much.

For example, what did you want to do with your life before you learned what was socially acceptable or realistic? What did you want to become before you were introduced to what the world deemed as successful? When you were not playing, what did you love doing that made you forget time? Start by answering these questions, and you will soon reunite with your core values.

Of course we age and change our interests over time. However, looking back into your childhood might help you find some values that you want to get back to. Maybe you were very emphatic and caring as a child, however the environment around you has hurried those values. Hence, it’s time for you to dig them up again and maybe start a career with something that has to do with helping people?

What makes you feel in charge?

What makes you feel like yourself determines how you appear to the world, how you spend your time, and the relationships you form. One of the greatest recipes for discovering intentional living within is to study yourself. Now, this is not to say that it will be a smooth journey. You will be surprised that your core is mixed with contradicting elements. However, as you begin the journey, you will come to appreciate who you are and the multi-faceted nature of your life.

The bridge between mental and practical steps to intentional living

After coming to terms with your core and what it means to be responsible for your life, you need to create one you can be proud of.

Decide to live life on your own terms

Every day, you need to make conscious choices to live each day on your terms. It involves defining your purpose and going after it. What is it that you want to give to the world around you? How do you want to communicate? It is the process of giving your life meaning and going after it like a dog on a scent. To do this, define your purpose, stay focused, and set goals that align with your purpose and true values. To live your life on your own terms, do not let anyone else decide for you or get in your way of achieving happiness. If that means letting go of tasks or relationships that don’t support your work and growth, and only wear you down; You have to let them go. This is one of the most important principles of intentional living that also has its roots in Essentialism.

Set realistic goals

You need to master the art of goal setting if you want to live intentionally. More than knowing what you want, you must be able to achieve them for more efficiency systematically. Rushing in blind is not the way to achieve your goals. Hence, to know how to get things done, you should set goals to shape your life and get a sense of direction.

You need to set goals that align with your value and purpose. It should also align with the behaviour that you want in your life and take steps to get there. Instead of writing many goals, start with realistic ones. Make a list only of a few small essential goals in order to achieve one main goal. This is called an action list. Only focus on writing the essentials, and not something that is not important because that will only end up taking too much time and prevent you from achieving success.

Focus on the real and don’t dwell on mistakes

After setting goals, distractions from everyone and things you are connected to are imminent. Hence, it will help if you learn to focus on the plan and cut back on distractions. Whatever robs you of your time will cloud your vision. Hence, you should avoid distractions. Not just external, you shouldn’t dwell on past mistakes. If you want to be intentional about how you live, you should detach yourself from emotions and fears from what happened before, let it go and move on with your life.

A few practical steps to intentional living

No man is an island. We are surrounded by events, people, and an active environment that impacts us. Hence, although mental assessment is crucial, we shouldn’t substitute it for practical steps. Here are some steps to improve your journey towards intentional living:

Reduce social media impacts

Social Media – One of the most powerful factors in your life that affects your resolve to live life the way you want. Imagine, a random tweet by John countries away can leave Jack feeling depressed because he feels something is wrong with him. Between the media, your inbox, and the TV, you are bound to consume numerous media content daily.

While staying online and sharing stories is an ideal way to connect with people from a distance and explore ideas, you should be mindful of how many ideas you seek. Why? Because harmful content can take away value and precious time from your life.

Apart from this, today’s online world is a rabbit hole of unhealthy comparison games and an overwhelming unhealthy lifestyles. Not only does it waste your time, but it also causes a feeling of anxiety and can diminish your self-worth. So, should you stop listening to the media? No. However, you should be mindful of how much social media information you consume.

The secret is to set boundaries and intentions. Ask questions of any content to see if it resonates with your values before adopting them. If not, delete it or unfollow, and move on.

Do something! Anything that brings you joy

As simple as that. Whatever you want to do, make sure it brings joy. This is the simplest form of intentional living that you can practice. Never put hustle before your happiness. If you feel the need to be productive, it should be towards what you define as success and happiness, and not the societal definition. Also, make time for non-productive activities in order to unwind and stress down. You need to feed your souls with other stuff that is not too relatable to your dreams.

Make time to self-reflect

Self-reflection helps you get back on track. Hence, you can take a few minutes of each day to think about your priorities and values. Journal it in order to get it out of your head in the most effective way. This way, you can go about each day with strengthened conviction. Practice the following to self-reflect and unwind in different ways:

• Meditation

• Journaling

• Therapy

• Reflect during slow travel, hiking or intuitive movement

• Spiritual practices, religious practises or personal hobbies

Things to pay extra attention to

The goal is to live your life the way you want without copying anyone. Some of the aspects that you should pay attention to includes:

• Your health: You need to prioritise self-care and rest. Nothing else will matter if you don’t care for yourself. When you neglect your mental and physical health, you will run out of fuel. Hence, regardless of your schedule, you should pay attention to your health.

• Your finances: You need to be intentional about your finances and how you spend money. If you think about it, you probably bought some of the clothes in your closet because you saw it on someone and not because it was essential. How do you feel when you spend money? Before you buy anything, ask yourself if it is worth it and how much value it will add to your life. Click on this article in order to change your financial habits.

• Your relationships: Intentional friends are potential longterm friends. When you choose your partner, it was with the mindset of staying together forever. Likewise, you should make friends and form relationships with that mentality. Such are the people you can trust, and they will push you to become a better version of yourself. Let go of relationships that drain your energy.

• The environment: You need to be intentional about your consumption and the environment. Sustainable living is beneficial to you and everyone. Hence, you need go about your environment and items around you with intention.

Have a growth mindset

One peculiar thing with intentional living is that you need to match your lifestyle to changes. What this means is that you often need to learn new things and adjust your opinion. Chances are that your values will change with time, so you shouldn’t be surprised when it does. Do not fear change and new knowledge, because they are crucial for your intentional living practises, happiness and success.