This exercise to live intentionally is EMOTIONALLY DIFFICULT & WILDLY ILLUMINATING. It’s shocking how much time we spend doing things EVERYDAY, simply out of habit, without questioning WHY we’re doing them.
After just nine days of intentional living, I uncomfortably realized SO MUCH of how I spend my time doesn’t even come close to supporting my greater life goals & my higher purpose on this planet.
It was HARD to realize that truth but I’m so grateful for the knowledge. By starting the simple process of questioning my daily routine, I’ve been able to begin the journey to reclaim the role of CEO of my own life.
Want to try 30 days of intentional living?
START HERE
1. Write down your higher purpose in this life. Go with your gut. Not sure? Skip this step for now.
2. Make a list of your greater goals. Do this for all areas: holistic self health (think mind, body, spirit), relationships, work, community contribution, etc. Your greater goals should ultimately support your higher purpose.
3. Keep a daily routine journal for 3-5 days. List everything big & small: i.e. “Alarm 6am, snooze 20 minutes, get ready 15 minutes, meditate 5 minutes, make tea 
4. Identify what’s not serving you. Review the list & acknowledge items & actions that ARE NOT SUPPORTING any of your greater goals or higher purpose. Mark these in red.
5. Remove time wasting tasks and actions. Begin consciously REMOVING these items from your daily routine, a few at a time.
6. REPLACE this TIME YOU GAIN with actions that support your higher purpose & greater goals. Define these meaningful actions, projects, etc. in writing.
7. Focus on QUALITY OF ACTIONS NOT QUANTITY OF TASKS. A day lived with intention often contains fewer actions, but the actions taken are far more fulfilling & genuinely productive. After identifying anything that’s not actually serving you in your daily routine, once removed, avoid replacing these items with other random habits and minutiae. Instead focus on spending MORE TIME doing what SUPPORTS your goals. It’s like creating a capsule wardrobe—you have a lot fewer clothes but you get to wear your favorite items daily, the ones that make you feel your best. When we DO LESS randomly, we DO MORE of what matters.
8. Living intentionally is a PROCESS and a PRACTICE. If you have been living very reactively, intentional living might feel mentally exhausting at first. For me, as the mom of a toddler, living reactively has been my m.o. a lot lately. And while it often feels easier in the moment, you cannot live reactively most of the time and meet your greater goals. Living with intention is a critical component to LIVING THE LIFE YOU WANT TO LIVE & aligning with your higher purpose … your personal legend.
P.S. To be clear, this exercise isn’t about removing the mundane but necessary “life maintenance” tasks from our days: sorting mail, doing laundry, scheduling doctor apps. etc. This is about consciously using the very precious time we have, that exists beyond everyday minutiae, to live intentionally and walk a road that leads us to meet our greatest goals and look back without regret, knowing we served the world as best we could, in alignment with our highest purpose.
