Surround Yourself With Like-Minded People
Another great strategy to help you turn those intentions into life-long habits is to surround yourself with like-minded people. Getting regular exercise is a lot easier when you join a class or a walking group. Eating better and losing weight becomes more fun and you’re much more likely to stick with it if you have a weight loss buddy or join a local group.
Join local groups, associations, or find online friends with the same interests so you can support each other, encourage each other, and learn from each other. Don’t underestimate the value of a strong support system.
Do It Anyway
We all have days when we fell that we can’t do it. We all get down sometimes and second guess ourselves. We all make mistakes or don’t see the progress we were hoping to make. We all feel like we’re not good enough. It can be discouraging and it can throw quite a roadblock into this journey of living a more purposeful life. Don’t let it stop you from being intentional and living life to the fullest. Instead, take some action and do it even when you don’t feel it.
When you don’t feel like it – Do It Anyway!
When you aren’t good at it – Do It Anyway!
When you might make mistakes – Do It Anyway!
Here’s the amazing thing about “Doing it Anyway”. Once you get going, those doubts and negative feelings will start to fade away. You’ll be too busy to worry and second guess yourself. Staying on track and being intentional will become easier. The hardest part when you’re in a funk is to simply get started. Pick something easy like drinking a glass of water, or something fun like calling a friend to chat. Do something, anything on that list of things you want to do today to move you closer to your goals. Get some momentum and before you know it, you’ll be trucking right along more motivated than ever.
Be Gracious and Forgiving With Yourself
We’ve talked about the importance of kindness in the past and how living a purpose-driven life makes you kinder. It’s also important to be gracious and forgiving with yourself. We are all people and we are going to make mistakes. There will be days when we fall into old habits. There will be times when we do something completely counterproductive to our intentions. There will be times where we sabotage ourselves, and there will be days when we can’t get anything done at all. It happens, and beating yourself up about it isn’t going to help.
Instead, be gracious and forgiving with yourself. Tomorrow is another day and you can start again. Vow to do better and move on. Don’t use this as an excuse to get lazy and never accomplish anything, but realize that you are not perfect and that it’s ok to fail sometimes.
Notice Changes
Another important aspect of being more intentional is paying attention to changes both in yourself and those around you. This is valuable for a couple of different reasons. The first is that when you see change you that you’re making a difference. What you’re doing is having an effect and that alone can be very motivating.
Noticing changes is also a good feedback mechanism. As you observe them, you get a chance to see if what you are doing with intent is having the desired results or not. If it does, great… keep going and even consider ramping it up. If it doesn’t, ask yourself why you’re seeing those changes. Try to get to the root of them, and then change your actions to see if you can get the intended results.
Let’s go back to the example of having a chat with your daughter over breakfast every morning. If your intent is to get closer and deepen your relationship, but instead you observe your daughter withdrawing, it’s time to have a second look. Maybe the setting is too formal. Maybe you’re being too pushy and asking too many questions, making her uncomfortable. Back off and try a gentler approach until you see positive changes in both of you that indicate that you are in fact getting closer.
Review Your Intentions Regularly
Because things don’t always work the way we expect them too, and because things change, it’s important to take time to review your intentions regularly. The workbook can help with that. Print out a new one once a month and before you start to use it, go through last month’s version and review your intentions and the journaling you did throughout the month.
Make a short list of what’s working and what you want to change before diving into the new workbook and moving on with your new month of intentional living.
Remember, This Is A Journey
Before we wrap this up, I think it’s important to point out that being more intentional and living life to the fullest is a journey. It’s something that takes time. It’s something that you build up to over time. It’s also something that will naturally evolve and change as you do.
Just like you take a journey of a thousand miles one step at a time, you take this journey one action, one intention, and one day at a time. Make those small changes. Keep working on them, keep adding them, and keep living more and more with purpose and intent. Do that and it won’t take long for those small changes to add up to big changes. Before you know it your life will change or the better and you’ll find that you have a bigger positive impact on your family, your friends, your community, and even the world at large than you thought possible at the beginning of this journey.
Don’t let that freak you out though. Don’t worry about those big changes and the potential impact what you want to do could have in the long run. Start small and start by taking that first step. Above all, don’t forget to enjoy the journey you’re on.
Use The Included Workbook
Last but not least, I’d like to encourage you to use the included Living a Life of Purpose Checklist. I’ve mentioned it a few time throughout this book. You’ll be able to download it in the same place you downloaded this ebook. It includes a handy habit tracker and 30 daily journaling pages with motivational quotes to inspire you and keep you on track. Print out a new version each month, or fill it out electronically. It doesn’t matter how you use it as long as you use it regularly. Keep working through the workbook each month until you feel comfortable. Once you’ve established new habits and have made living intentional the new norm, you can keep going without it. Unless you continue to find it helpful and enjoy the journaling. In that case, by all means, keep using it.
And with that we wrap up the tips and ideas section of the being intentional and living your life to the fullest. I hope you’ve found it helpful and picked up on some interesting strategies and ideas. As suggested at the beginning of the chapter, I recommend you take a couple of these tips and start implementing them right away. Start with what’s easy and then keep coming back whenever you need some fresh ideas or a bit of inspiration.
It’s time to wrap things up and let you get to work crafting the life of your dream. First, let’s quickly recap what we covered throughout this report. We started out by taking a look at why it is important to focus on being intentional. Along the way, we went over quite a few different benefits and how they can have a direct impact on your life, that of your family, and even your community.
In chapter two I shared some of my best tips and strategies for living a more intentional and fulfilling life. I hope you picked up some ideas and suggestions that you can put into action over the coming weeks and months. It’s not always easy to change your habits or your life philosophy, but it is well worth the effort.
Last but not least, I encourage you to come back and reread this book from time to time. It’s good to review and make sure you’re still on track. In addition, there are some things you may have missed or glossed over the first (and second) time you read it. You may just come across the tip or suggestion that you need to move forward and keep making progress.
Above all, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this and have benefited from it. My wish for you is that you continue to become more and more intentional and live a beautiful life full of purpose that’s happy and fulfilling.