Intentional Living

This POST had to be here, it just has to be. LOL. I have been a student of intentional living for as long as I can remember and I know that it works amazingly!!!!!

I am that girl who doesn’t feel settled until she has planned out, her day, her week, her month, her year and sometimes even her next 10 years. Crazy huh? I have heard that a lot. Little wonder I am an event planner

And the truth really is, I didn’t tag it as INTENTIONAL LIVING until recently. I didn’t know that my planning out my life, years ahead was me living intentionally. This has just always just being a proclivity. 

When I found out recently that was what I had being doing since…., I think age 14, 

YEA I WAS 14, FRESH OUT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL WHEN I FIRST FELT THE NEED TO PLAN, AND I THINK WHAT SPURRED ME INTO DOING THAT WAS THE UNCERTAINTY AROUND MY LIFE AT THE TIME

Uncertainties doesn’t sit well with me, and while I know that life is full of them, I’d rather plan, tweak my plan as God’s will unfold or life happens THAN TO WING IT. 

When I was 14, I sat and wrote my life goals, this is what it looked like:

GRADUATE MED SCHOOL AT 21
GET MARRIED AT 24
HAVE A KID BY 25
BUY A CAR BEFORE 25
BY MY MUM A BRAND NEW CAR FOR HER 50TH BIRTHDAY
HAVE MY OWN HOSPITAL AT 30
BUILD A SCHOOL WITH MY HUBBY/SISTERS BY 35
HAVE A FOUNDATION/ORPHANAGE BY 40

Is this exactly how my life turned out? Some yes, others; not so much! Well for one, I never got to study Medicine and I got married at 21

WHEN I LOOK AT THIS LIST THOUGH, ALL I FEEL IS GRATITUDE

My life may not have turned out the way my 14-year-old self planned it, but it turned out better.. And I like how God’s will came to play 

Ok, we digressed.. Now back to the course;

When I realized recently that what I had been doing was intentional living, I dug right in and read even more about this theory I had been living without even realizing it..

OH, I READ. AND THE MORE I READ, THE MORE I UNDERSTOOD THE POTENCY OF IT, THE NEED FOR EVERYONE TO ACTUALLY LIVE THEIR LIVES INTENTIONALLY. 

So what is intentional living? 

Oh yes, you better know we would do some defining. The scientist in me has decided to rear its head.. And heads up, this is gonna be a long post.. 

Ready? Let’s go!

INTENTIONAL LIVING IS 

asking yourself why you do things and then being happy with the answers. Living with intention means closely examining those answers and if you’re not happy with what you see, re-examining your choices.

It is not about having everything figured out; it doesn’t mean you have to have your whole life figured out; but it does mean having purpose behind your actions and knowing what matters to you

Intentional living is figuring out a tangent or strategy for your life and caring enough about your future to plan it. 

Intentional living is pre-planning your life in a way that you only give room to what matters to the end goal and making the decision everyday to live the life you desire. 

Living with intention means being in constant communication with yourself, deciding what’s working (and what’s not) and making small adjustments everyday!

Intentional living is a continuous process, there is no finish line. It is hard work but the best kind of creating a life you truly love.

INTENTIONAL LIVING DOES NOT PREEMPT GOD. Intentional living is learning to live like God, because is he is INTENTIONAL. It is putting in view, God’s plan for your life, asking him for direction and working out a plan that aligns to his will, on how to make the vision happen.

A huge part of intentional living is walking the walk everyday!

I can go on.. but I’d stop so we can move on to other things. 

What does one begin to live intentionally?

Well, I think the first step is STRATEGY.

Have you noticed that companies and businesses have strategy meetings frequently? That’s because they need to discuss important things.

Your future is important, ain’t it? Then you need to start taking time out frequently to plan it.

You need to ask questions about where you want to be in next 5 years, 10 years etc and then create bit-sized steps towards how to make this goals happen.

Say for example, you want to be a thought leader in the fashion industry in 5 years, the first question to ask would be…. How do you intend to go about this goal? 

The next questions to ask would be ”who is currently living this dream and what were they doing 5 years ago?” “Do I want to be exactly like this person in 5 years or there is a twist to my own goal?” 

Now, I know times are different and social media has made things quite easy so what that person was doing 5 years ago may not be exactly what you should do now if you want any kind of results but the key idea here is to do your study, your due diligence in knowing exactly what is required of you to achieve this goal in 5 years and leave no stone unturned 

What intentional living now requires you to do figure out what you can do NOW, what you can do in next couple of months and years to achieve that goal..

And the real work now comes in how regularly you review and tweak your plans as you get new information or as your preferences change or God gives you a new direction. 

Intentional living is not a one-time, “set and forget” activity. Instead, it’s a lifestyle, and arguably, a lifelong commitment; a continual process of reflecting and refining.You’ve taken the first step but from here on out, if you want real change, then you need to do the hard work.

So our next step is WORK