Live An Intentional Life!
Live a life of intention. What does that even mean?
It means taking charge of your life. It means you are deciding what happens. You are actually choosing what you are doing with your life, not just letting things happen to you. This can mean professionally, socially and romantically.
Most people are just running on autopilot. They never stop and think, do I even like what I am doing?
Do you hate your job? Then what are you doing about it? Do you just keep going to work and going through the motions or are you actively looking to get out of it?
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein
If you are working to pay your bills, but are going to school to prepare you for your dream job, then I get it. That makes sense, but if you are just going to work for the paycheck. Then spending your money on frivolous things only to repeat the same next week, then it is time for you to make some changes. If you are working paycheck to paycheck then you might want to rethink things.
There are a lot of people just going to work. Then they buy some fancy stuff they don’t need or even necessarily want because it makes them feel good for a moment. That new car smell wears off quickly, but the monthly payment keeps coming.
It actually makes me sad when I meet people who go to work for the paycheck and their job gives them no other type of gratification.
You will never be more fulfilled than when what you do for a living is what you love to do.
Others go to work all week, then they spend their week nights or weekends in a bar. It seems to me that they are just drowning away their sorrows or numbing themselves to the fact that they hate what they do or that they never went for their dream.
So what can you do?
Well, a dream without a plan is just a wish.
So make a plan. Start working towards that new career.
Do you let your family decide what you get to do socially or do you say I want to do this and this is what I am going to do. Do you go out to happy hour with everyone from work because you feel “pressured” or do you definitively make the call yourself. “ No I’m not going to happy hour, I just don’t have any interest in doing that.”
Maybe your family has been telling you that you need to live a certain life. As you get older you will realize that some of those ideas and some of that information does not ring true with who you really are. That is not to say you should abandon all family values, it just simply means that you are in charge of what you do regardless of outside influences.
Obviously this is all a balancing act. You do not want to become some self centered egomaniac. You are just being more aware of what your desires are rather than kowtow to every other person in your life. It is your life, you should be deciding what you want and don’t want to do.
Maybe you are with the wrong person? Have you been married to, living with or dating the wrong person for years and years because you feel like you are supposed to? Are you in an unhappy relationship for no other reason than you have been together for a long time? You have been unhappy for many years and your spouse probably has too. Maybe it is time for you to be happy. Maybe it is time for you to be with a person that you really want to be with.
Let me be clear, I am in no way trying to break up families. I am just trying to get people to step back and take a look at their lives. If nothing else, maybe a conversation will help you and your spouse communicate better. Maybe it will help you be intentional with your lives as a couple.
These are big life changing ideas that you should spend a lot of time reflecting on. It is important that you live a life that is true to your values and what you want out of life. You certainly don’t want to be living your life for someone else
We are all pretty good at making these grand plans and then never following through. Many people have better success when they make small, achievable plans. They start with the big plan, but then they break it down to smaller bite size pieces. This makes it more possible because then you have small successes. These small successes make you feel better and you become more motivated to continue.
Living with intention is constantly reevaluating what is working in your life and what is not. If it is not working, then it needs to go. Something that was working a week ago may not be working today. The constant reevaluation of each aspect of your life is what will keep you moving forward. If the actions you are taking are not working it may be time to change those actions to something different.
You only have one life. Take charge of it and live the life you have always wanted. Once again, you get one shot at this.
