Discover ways to achieve your goals every day
Ifyou’re someone who loves feeling that you’re making great progress and moving forward in various areas of life, then this is for you. The one thing I have learnt from people who seem to be making great progress, is that they all have at least one thing in common: they live intentionally.
What Does Living Intentionally Mean?
Living intentionally means living deliberately and on purpose, and this relates to any area of life e.g., health, career, relationships, business, fitness etc. So, when it comes to ongoing projects like health or building a business, what could living intentionally look like? A great example is the magnificent Egyptian pyramids which required deliberate intention of forward planning, strategy and action. With an estimated 2.3 million bricks weighing 2.5 tonnes each, can you imagine the first brick of the pyramid being laid? The task at hand would have seemed never-ending and overwhelming, however, with the gradual, intentional effort of moving one brick at a time, today the pyramids stand as a metaphor of persistence, intentional effort, planning and action.
How can the Egyptian Pyramids relate to you and your life? You may also be building a metaphorical pyramid in your health, career, business, or relationships, and at the moment it may seem overwhelming. The way forward is considering how you can intentionally move a few bricks today– even if it’s just one important brick– that’s progress.
How to Build Your Pyramid.
As mentioned above, you may feel a little overwhelmed with what seems to be 2.3 million things to do. So where do you start?
1. Choose Main Categories. Ask yourself, what are the top three main categories to help build your pyramid? These areas are major themes or categories, that when covered each day, lead to progress. For example, if your ‘pyramid’ is health, then your three major themes could be 1) exercise 2) nutrition 3) sleep.
2. List Actions. Once you have your three main categories, then each day identify the most important actions that fit into these three areas. Then prioritise the most important items to do in each of the three categories.
3. Be Prepared. To live intentionally, prepare the night before. This will ensure that you start strong the next day and maximise your time by already being organised.
4. Review. One of the most rewarding and motivating things to do is to
see your progress. So, when you intentionally attend to one task from each of your three main categories, then congratulations. You are on your way to living intentionally and progressing in your area of interest.
James Clear in his book Atomic Habits, discusses the power of 1%, and how doing small actions repeatedly causes small changes which over time leads to massive results. These results can lead to one day in your future where you notice a ‘pyramid’ forming in your life, all because every single day you chose to be intentional and take progressive actions. That’s what it is all about– making small incremental changes which over time, those changes add up. Imagine if you added 10% or 20% in each of these three areas over several months or years?
Personally, this very strategy has helped me at times when I felt overwhelmed. However, now every day I ensure I always get the most important tasks completed from each of the three categories which now sets up every day for victory and progress. I trust that you have received value and some ideas on how you can finetune your current work habits and set up your day for success.
Kathryn Dodd is a human behaviour consultant with a passion for leadership. She is currently the Director of media company, Great Health Guide™, and Founder of human behaviour consultancy, Being All You Can Be. Kathryn provides a solid platform to consult with her clients to help them overcome limiting mindsets, discover solutions, build strategic plans which lead to transformational results. Kathryn may be contacted via website, Facebook, or YouTube.