When you live intentionally, you get more of what you want, have more meaningful relationships, and feel more fulfilled.
So what’s holding you back from being more intentional?
Often, it’s hard to live intentionally because we spend so much time on autopilot.
We have patterns and habits that have served us in the past. We assume those patterns will continue to work in the future because they worked in the past. However, that’s only sometimes the case.
Being frugal and saving a lot may have served us in the past. But if we mindlessly follow that pattern, we may dismiss purchases that could significantly increase our quality of life.
You may have learned that your partner doesn’t listen when you remind them to do things. But if you give up on communicating, you may grow to resent them and strain your relationship.
Relatedly, our blindspots can prevent us from living intentionally.
We are only sometimes aware of the patterns or habits we run on autopilot.
Similarly, we are only sometimes aware of the beliefs we hold, the feelings we experience, or the behaviours we do.
But it’s easier to see where our opportunities lie if we have this awareness. It’s hard to live intentionally when we can’t see our choices and the other choices we could make instead.
Another thing that can hold us back from intentional living is overthinking things.
We may overthink things when there’s something that we want.
We may think about all the things that could go wrong. Or about all the ways we still need to prepare. Or about all the reasons those things don’t matter.
But we’re not moving closer to what we want when overthinking things.
We’re unintentionally keeping ourselves stuck.
Similarly, our perfectionism can stop us.
When we need things to be perfect, we’re too scared to try new things.
We spend most of our time learning how to do things well, planning what needs to happen, and preparing for what could go wrong.
But this over-preparing and over-planning also keep us stuck.
We spend all our time getting ready, so we keep ourselves from getting started.
Finally, we can struggle to live intentionally when we’re disconnected from what’s important to us.
When we live intentionally, we free ourselves to live with integrity.
This means we align with our goals, values, vision, and desires.
But it’s challenging to live with intention when we don’t know what we want, what’s important to us, or what would make our lives meaningful.
In what ways are you living intentionally right now? How can you live more intentionally in other areas of your life?
