Intentional Living: 7 Ways to Live More Purposefully

Have you’ve ever woke up one day and wondered how you got to where you’re at?

How about getting hit with a mid-life or even a quarter-of-a-life crisis and realized you haven’t accomplished what you’ve planned or done much with your life? How about feeling overwhelmed even when you want it all? Me too.

To end this week, I want to talk about intentional living and give you seven ways on how to get more done and still be able to live more purposefully. Let’s dive in!

1. Figure out what an ideal day looks like to you.

What would a meaningful, productive, happy and positive day look like to you? Include time with your loved ones, working on your passions and caring for yourself (in whatever way that means to you). When you think about it, you’ll find that you are in control of how your awesome day goes. Mara over on M Loves M talked about her perfect day earlier this week and it was fun to imagine her awesome day! She inspired me to think about how I would want my perfect day to look like so expect a future post coming soon!

2. Create a list of things you refuse to compromise on. 

Once you figure out what your ideal day looks like, get a small action plan together. List out small, quick and simple steps that you know will contribute to you having an awesome day. The smaller the action step, the better. Why? Your brain doesn’t like to do anything difficult! Whether it’s 15 minutes of meditating, doing some yoga or boxing if you’re on the other side of the workout spectrum, reading a few pages of a good book, having a cup of tea/coffee, pinning some inspiration, plow through your small list of things you know you want to do everyday. By doing what you want, you will always look forward to the next day!

3. Make your bed every morning.

Speaking of things to refuse to compromise on, don’t compromise on making your bed. I make my bed every morning. This is something I try and teach this habit to my friends all the time. To me, the key to success begins with making your bed. Why? How you do anything is how you do everything! Click To Tweet

If you can create this habit and instill it into your daily routine, it’ll transfer to other areas of your life. Making your bed every day is the mark of discipline. And when you’re disciplined, you’ll do the not-so-fun things you know needs to be done even when you don’t feel like it.

On top of that, making your bed in the morning makes you feel good that you’ve already accomplished one thing so you’ll want to keeping winning throughout your day! Remember, what you’re working towards is a compound effect. Watch this speech on what Admiral McRaven says to a graduating class at UT at Austin (Go Longhorns!) and let me know your thoughts!

4. Express gratitude every single day.

I’m sure you’ve heard this many times from many successful people. They’re definitely on to something. Expressing gratitude honestly makes us happier. Whether it’s writing it down at night or thinking about things you’re grateful for every morning, sending a thank you note or some snail mail to a family member or friend, the actions of expressing gratitude just makes you feel good. Expressing gratitude leads to peace and abundance and who wouldn’t want that?

I wake up every day thanking God for waking me up and allowing me to experience all that there is to life. For me, I personally use and love the Five Minute Journal to write down the blessings I’m thankful for that have been given to me.

5. Take a break. 

Life flies by so quickly that often times, we don’t even realize what’s happening or how fast it’s happening. Even if you have a packed schedule, teach yourself to pause and take a break. Whatever kind of break you prefer, preserve your energy or recharge yourself by taking a step back and just breathe. Go for a walk, take a bath or color. Yep. I said color. I have this adult coloring book I like to get lost in when I want to take a break from the world. If you think about it, taking time out of your day to sit down and color is intentional living.

6. Track your progress. 

Whether it be through your Fitbit, Apple Watch, notes on your phone, a journal or progress photos, be intentional and track your progress on your goals. You’d be surprised at how far you’ve gotten and it’ll motivate you to keep going!

7. Lastly, follow the five second rule.

I learned about the five second rule from my personal development reading late last year. Here’s what Mel Robbins says about the five second rule, “If you have an impulse to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill the idea.” To keep yourself from procrastinating or getting off track, try this rule out on something as simple as working out. As soon as you think you should be working out, take action and go put on your workout clothes, lace up and get after it.

If you want to get better at intentional living, you’ve got to understand that you’ll be constantly fighting your brain. Once you know this rule, you’ll be golden!

I know this is a lot to remember, but I sincerely hope you take one of these tips (or all) and apply it to help you with living life more purposefully!

How do you feel about intentional living?