Start Living With Intention

2/14/2023

Start Living With Intention

Personal growth and development is the transition from experiencing life happening to you to experiencing a life created by you.

Living with intention requires the practice of paying attention.

Paying attention means that you are actively living your life on purpose. It means that every thought and every action, no matter how small, is a choice. This means that you can no longer pretend to be asleep, it means that you become conscious. What you eat, what you say, the habits you make - it is all done with awareness of the choice. This level of living requires the knowledge and awareness that you are 'at the helm' of your life, fully responsible for where you are and where you go.

One of the most powerful ways we can do this is by taking control of our time, and continually increasing moments that we are living our life on purpose. In a recent study commissioned by Marks and Spence, a whopping 96% of people surveyed reported that they were living their life on autopilot.

In my life, I use the terms “default self” and “intentional self”. My default self is the person that operates from her base stories, fears, and general unconsciousness. This is my “programmed” self, who lives by the rules and values defined by her family, peers, and culture. In contrast, my intentional self is the person that operates from her chosen stories, courage, and intentional consciousness. My "deliberate" self lives by her own rules, defined by her alone.

As a coach, I’ve worked with thousands of clients. When people begin working with me, I would say about 60 - 70% of them don’t yet know their intentional selves, and they are strictly living life as they have been pre-programmed to do. The other 30-40% know their intentional self, and are in the process of learning how to live a greater percentage of their life, and time, in alignment with that deliberate self. Here are some examples of how these two selves might show up in your life

Living With Intention: Default Self vs. Intentional Self

Living From Your Intentional Self Vs. Your Default Self

Below you’ll find a free download that will allow you to do an audit on your time (and life). You can also download this worksheet as a Word Document or Google Doc.

Here is how to use this spreadsheet:

#1 – Fill in how you would LIKE to spend your time. Complete the chart from your intentional self, and design your time in alignment with your values, desires, and joys.

#2 - Track how you spend your time for a week or two. I suggest doing this at lunch, and again at nighttime before you go to bed so that you don’t forget what happened in your day. If you can track your activities in real-time during your day, even better. The more accurate your tracking is the more opportunity for insights and transformation.

#3 – Make necessary adjustments in your life.

I suggest doing this audit at least twice a year. I like to do it quarterly to keep myself on track, and assure that I am living the life that I want to live.

If you're interested in discovering your 'intentional self' and building habits and routines that support that self in being 'at the helm', schedule a free coaching consultation and let's discover if we're a good fit for working together.