Once you have done this, you are better placed to make effective decisions about what you want and how to achieve it. It is important to realise you are in control of both your external and internal environment. If you feel either are not conducive to what you want from life, change something! Make decisions about what you want, and plan how you want to do it. This will make it easier to live intentionally. 

Finally – go out and achieve it! You have created a positive environment for yourself through evaluating your surroundings, you have planned what you want and have made decisions about how to do it. Therefore, you will have everything at your disposal to make your goals reality.  However, remember to be open to new opportunities and adapt your goals, and your driving purpose, accordingly.

Are you reading this and thinking, ‘How can I set goals when I’m still not quite sure about what I want from life?’ Don’t fret – your goals don’t have to be anything as concrete as where you want your career to be in ten years. They can be as simple as deciding what makes you happy on a day to day basis. What do you do that brings you joy? Even small tickles of happiness? With this goal in mind, we can live intentionally by making every decision with this goal in mind. If you consider and realise something is going to have a negative impact on your happiness, you can opt-out of doing it. 

It is in this way that we can be intentional about our direction despite being unsure of our destination. Understand your core values and what matters to you most, and you can live intentionally. Personally, I value my relationships with family and friends and my independence. So when making decisions, I try to keep this in mind and make choices that will not negatively impact these areas of my life. I try to make decisions every day that prioritise the same values in order to achieve a life I enjoy. 

Figuring out your values may seem like a challenge. Take a minute to think about when you feel at your happiest, and when you have felt fulfilled. If you can identify a theme to these moments, you will be able to live in an intentional way in order to facilitate them happening more regularly. 

This is a key part of living intentionally – understanding that the way your life pans out is completely within your control. You have the power to design the life you want for yourself through the choices you make. Being intentional about your choices every day are bound to bring positive and noticeable results.

So – are you ready to start living intentionally? Here are some ideas for what you can start doing today to begin your intentional living journey.