Live Every Day with Intent

Intentions don’t take a day off

We all have plans, every single day. These are chores we need to do, items to check off our to-do list, and tasks that we’d like to finish before our head hits the pillow at night. Chores and tasks sound a lot like work, and when we have a day off, the last thing we want is to fill our days with tasks or create to-do lists, but not doing those things will inevitably hurt our intent, our drive, and our routine of getting things done.

First thing upon waking up

Do you sleep with a cell phone beside your bed? If you do, then you’re probably like many people: wake up, turn off the alarm, and reach for the phone.

What if you learned that was the first mistake? What if reaching for your phone and scrolling through social media was the very thing that killed our motivation for the day and put us in a funk that warded off all our good intentions?

Stop. Put the phone down. Better yet, don’t even sleep with it in the same room. Eliminate all the electronics you can from your bedroom, so fewer distractions get in the way of what the room is meant for – rest.

What do we do when we look through social media? We see how others are living their lives, what they’re up to, what they’ve just bought, or the vacations they’re planning. Then we do one of the most dangerous things for motivation, and that’s comparing ourselves to them.

If there’s no cell phone in the room, then we’re able to greet the day and take stock of what we’ve done, where we are, and what our intentions for the day are.

Our time is valuable, and when we kill our motivation, then we’re taking value and quality out of our time. We’re not getting as much done, and in the end, all of our goals suffer because of that.

We need to protect our time and our energy with the ferocity of a mother bear looking after her cubs. So many things out there want to steal it, but we can’t let them.

Even on our days off, we need to have goals for the day, even if that goal is to get up, get showered, and then read a book we’ve been meaning to read. That’s a goal. That’s an intent for the day. If you’ve made it a goal for the day, then that’s what you need to do. Planning to do nothing is still intent, and it’s a goal we need to achieve if it’s truly what we’ve planned for the day.

When good intentions go bad

Remember above when we said we need to protect our time? Well, as your business grows, the time we need to protect changes.

In the beginning, we often need to protect our work time from disturbances and upsets. Often, and this happens without even noticing it, work takes over. Now we’re spending more time working, and less time doing the things that make our life fulfilling, like spending time with family. We’ve gotten so used to protecting our work time and filling our day with intentions for work, that we don’t realize that we should also focus on being present, at home, with family and friends.

Work gives our life meaning, but it’s not the only thing that adds value to our life. The other part is being present, showing up, and making a commitment to those that matter most to us. Make those other things a priority, write them in your schedule if you must, but make them one of your most important goals.

Writing goals down makes them more real, and it makes it easier to accomplish. How do you keep track of your daily goals? If you’re looking for a way to plan your day for success, get our free resource, The Simple Planner and watch how it changes your life and your intent.