Have you ever woken up in the morning ready to go with your plans for the day of things you want to do, of things you want to get done? Perhaps you want to workout, or you need to call someone, stop by the store? However, after your day begins you find yourself tired from work, school, phone calls you end up pushing off those things you wanted to do. Its not that they aren’t important…but then honestly they’re not high priority.
What you’ve done is accepted the life you’re living, and complacency has taken over.
Today I listened to a call by John Maxwell, that the life coach whom I’m interning with was gracious enough to share with me because she wanted to add value to my life. I’ve also read John Maxwell’s intentional living, and this is a reiteration on the importance of intentional action.
How often do we find ourselves in a routine that it becomes so engrained into our daily lives we suddenly become mindless, and go through our actions without a second thought. Suddenly you find yourself unsatisfied with the life you’re living, and there is no significance to the things you do.
John shared a quote that made me reflect on my successes and failures. He said:
“Everything worthwhile is uphill”
Everything worthwhile is uphill. Simply this was genius to me. I thought about the goals that I’ve had, and how that feeling of success and fulfillment happened because I was practicing good habits to get me to where I needed to be.
He followed his quote with this next one:
“Everybody has uphill hopes, but most people have downhill habits.”
To me, this is where the idea of having good intentions, isn’t good enough. You can wish and hope that things will change, and that you want to do something in your personal or work life. But those changes will not happen if you simply have the good intention to do it. Johns book Intentional Living creates an understanding on the importance of intentional action. Being purposeful in the things we do, only help use learn and grow. This requires you to be present in the things you do, to have a reason into the WHY you choose to act.
I personally go back and forth living life intentionally. A strong sense of your purpose and why, ultimately will help you maintain your live of intentionality. However, when I do live my life with intention, I am so fulfilled and satisfied with my life. I try to take it one day at a time, and make intentional modifications to aspects in my life should I need to. For example, I’ve made changes in my friendships, relationships, to the social media apps that I keep or don’t keep on my phone to become more productive. Having a why behind doing things, and letting those around me know how much they impact my life, and how much I appreciate them. I personally believe that making little changes in your daily activities, and being present in the things you’re doing will help guide your life past simply good intentions.