What Would Your Life Be Like If series: Question 1

What would your life be like if you lived with intention and purpose, rather than just going through the motions?

If you're like most people, you probably spend a lot of your life going through the motions. You wake up, go to work or school, come home, watch TV or scroll through social media, and go to bed. Rinse and repeat. Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, and before you know it, years have gone by.
But what if there was another way to live? What if you could live with intention and purpose, and create a life that truly fulfills you? In this blog post, we'll explore what your life would be like if you lived with intention and purpose, and provide practical tips for getting started.

Living with intention and purpose means that you're living deliberately, rather than just reacting to the world around you. It means that you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and why it's important to you. It means that you're making conscious choices about how you spend your time and energy, and that those choices are aligned with your values and passions.

When you live with intention and purpose, you're more likely to experience a sense of meaning and fulfillment in your life. You're less likely to feel like you're just going through the motions or wasting your time on things that don't matter to you. You have a sense of direction and focus that helps you stay motivated and engaged.

How to Live with Intention and Purpose

So how can you start living with intention and purpose? Here are some practical tips to get you started:

1) Identify Your Values and Passions
The first step in living with intention and purpose is to identify your values and passions. What do you care about? What gets you excited and energized? What do you want to achieve in your life? Take some time to reflect on these questions and write down your answers. This will help you get clear on what's important to you and why.

If you'd like resources to help you explore your values and passions, consider the following:

• Take Personal Values Assessment by the Barrett Values Centre. The Personal Values Assessment is a simple survey that takes just a few minutes of your time and provides a wealth of information about why you do what you do based on what you value. Here is the link to your PVA: www.valuescentre.com/pva
  
• Take the Passion Assessment along with instructions on how to take your Passion Test. Here is the link: https://www.thepassiontest.com/the-passion-assessment
• If you need support debriefing either of these resources and would like to set up a complimentary session to discuss, click here. 

2) Clarify Your Vision and Set Goals
Once you've identified your values and passions, the next step is to clarify your goals and sett meaningful goals that are aligned with them. What do you want to achieve in the short-term and long-term? What steps do you need to take to get there? Make sure your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

If you’re not much into setting goals, which may be an emerging post-pandemic theme for those who have lived a goal oriented life, only to watch the world shut down and bring everything to a screeching halt, simply consider this concept and integrate into your decision making process. In any given situation, you have just two choices. In every decision you make, you have just two choices. One choice will be more in line with your intentions, values, passions and vision for your life. The other choice will be less aligned. Always choose in the direction of your values and passions.

3) Create a Plan
Once you have your goals, intentions, values and passions in place, create a plan for achieving them. Break your goals down into smaller, manageable action steps that you can take each day, week, or month. Create a schedule or to-do list that helps you stay on track and make progress toward your goals. I love to use Jack Canfield’s Rule of 5 to keep things moving along. Check it out here.

If you are not much into goals, simply hold the intention and the vision of what you want to accomplish and how you want to feel as you move through each day and take daily action steps that get you closer to living from that place. This could be as simple as intentionally adding more joy to your daily activities or choosing in the direction of your passion.

4) Focus on What Matters
Living with intention and purpose means focusing on what matters most to you. It means saying no to things that don't align with your values and passions, and saying yes to things that do. It means being intentional about how you spend your time and energy.

5) Practice Mindfulness
Practicing mindfulness can help you live with intention and purpose by increasing your awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and actions. It can help you stay present in the moment and make conscious choices about how you respond to the world around you. Try incorporating mindfulness practices like meditation, yoga, or deep breathing into your daily routine.

So what does it look like to live with intention and purpose in real life?

Here are a few examples:

• Toni is a 40-something woman who values health and wellness. She sets a goal to run a half-marathon. She creates a training plan and follows it consistently, even when it gets tough. She prioritizes her health by making time for regular exercise and healthy eating, and feels a sense of accomplishment and pride when she crosses the finish line.
• Melissa is a middle aged woman who is passionate about social justice. She decides to volunteer at a local non-profit organization. She spends two to three days a week helping with outreach efforts, attending community events, and advocating for causes she cares about. Se feels a sense of purpose and connection to her community, and knows that she's making a positive difference in the world.
• Melissa has always loved art. After raising her kids, getting divorced and finally having time to focus on herself first, she started creating art again. She recently decides to start a side hustle selling her artwork online. She spends her weekends creating new pieces, promoting her work on social media, and connecting with other artists in her community. She feels a sense of pride and joy when someone buys one of her pieces, and knows that she's pursuing her passion in a meaningful way. She recently created.a paint and sip class at a local cafe in her community and discovered that she loves teaching others what she’s passionate about.
  
  

Activities to Integrate Living with Intention and Purpose

Here are some activities you can do to help integrate living with intention and purpose into your own life:

1. Reflect on your values and passions. Write down what matters most to you, and how you can incorporate those things into your daily life.
2. Set SMART goals that are aligned with your values and passions. Write down specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals that you can work toward.
3. Create a daily schedule or to-do list that helps you stay focused on your goals and priorities and/or your vision, intentions and passions.
4. Practice mindfulness through meditation, yoga, or deep breathing.
5. Say no to things that don't align with your values and passions, and say yes to things that do.

Living with intention and purpose is about creating a life that aligns with your values and passions. It's about making conscious choices about how you spend your time and energy, and pursuing goals that are meaningful to you. When you live with intention and purpose, you're more likely to experience a sense of fulfillment and meaning in your life. Use the tips and activities in this blog post to get started or enhance your own journey.

---

---

If you are ready for an even deeper dive, consider working with a 1 on 1 coach or accountability partner to help keep you on track. Click here to learn more about working with Trisha.

To learn more about heart-centered living, click here to download Trisha’s ebook, Heart-Centered Living: The Art of Cultivating Love, Compassion and Balance.