What does it mean to live intentionally?
Considering the definition of intentional living begs the question, “Why even consider it?”
Personally, I chose the term intentional living as a key undertone to this website because I believe trying to live with purpose and intentionality is a God-honoring way for me to live. As a Christian, the root of my worldview is based on God being the ultimate authority and foundation of truth. This foundation, including the gospel of Jesus and the Bible, is the main reason I’m interested in intentional living.
At its simplest, living intentionally is doing things on purpose (or not by accident). At its most complex, intentional living is an opportunity to revisit core values and assess daily life choices based on those values.
“They live and die and never know why.” This is a quote from my grandmother that my dad referenced often. Intentional living is a mindset that seeks to do the opposite. Or as Stephen Covey would put it, to begin with the end in mind, the second habit in his popular book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Understanding why this topic is important to you on a fundamental level is a good place to start when defining the meaning of intentional living. From there, we can move to defining how that can look.
What Does it Mean to Live Intentionally? – The Definition
Living intentionally is knowing your core values and beliefs and filtering your life choices, through that lens, including your feelings, goals, thoughts, daily activities, etc.
While this is a simple enough definition, it highlights a basic understanding of core values and beliefs as the foundation of intentional living. This is something everyone has to determine for themselves.
In practice, tackling the task of filtering daily choices through the lens of your core values and beliefs is an ongoing process that takes effort on a daily basis.
The Honesty Code
Now, we can’t talk about a way of life without talking about honesty.
Living honestly is something I am convicted of all the time (particularly when writing about something like the meaning of intentional living). The idea of the honesty code is being acutely aware of what we do vs. what we say and not neglecting that awareness for the sake of convenience or comfortability.
I say plenty of things. And I think about what I would do even more, but do I actually do all of those things? Absolutely not. The “honesty code” is a silly label for not being afraid to assess your way of living against what you say you believe and to do so while being honest to yourself and to God.
I hope that makes sense.
Life Thesis?
In many ways, I view living intentionally as a working thesis. So much so that I quite literally have kept a working life thesis for some years now. It’s a place for me to write, reflect, adjust, and tone-check the things I’m planning and focusing on year after year. While I can’t say it’s been particularly helpful in an actionable sense (maybe because I don’t revisit it often enough or maybe because I don’t take it as seriously as I should), I will say that it does provide a sort of hard reset for me.
Keeping the main thing, the main thing inevitably rises to the surface when I revisit such a document. It reminds me to sit in the fact that this life is incredibly fleeting and can easily be meaningless. Especially if I don’t remind myself that the things that interest me, the goals, the small purposes, and the enjoyments of life must all fall in a categorical hierarchy under my greater purpose. That is, the core beliefs and values that I strive to live by.
Core Values
My core values are based on Biblical principles and who I know God to be based on the Bible. I strive to serve God and worship him as he desires, walking out the tasks or “good works” mentioned in Ephesians 2 that he has prepared in advance for me to do.
I recognize that many things under the sun are in fact meaningless, as Ecclesiastes so emphatically puts it. Meaningless when the goals and aspirations one-dimensionally exist under the sun rather than above it. The idea of being kingdom minded vs. worldly-minded is a constant challenge. Retraining my mind to desire to do the things that are often invisible to others, but that build God’s kingdom is something I will always have to work on.
The fear of the Lord is another key element. While Proverbs says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and understanding, I still struggle to understand what it means fully and even more to put it into words.
An intense respect for God is necessary and one way to look at it. But another view is the idea of facing a just and holy God at the end of my life and answering for every thought, action, attitude, and motive. This is a foundational element of my value system.
Maintenance
As we’ve discussed, knowing what you believe and stand on is the basis of living intentionally. These values and beliefs set up parameters for decision-making, reflection, and maintenance.
As a Christian, I believe in the Bible as the inspired Word of God. The things I learn about God through reading the Bible and attending church help refine my values and beliefs and help me make better decisions on how to live my life.
The concept of values and beliefs is an easy one to understand. The application and maintenance are a whole other story. For instance, when I don’t actively spend time reading my Bible, praying, or meditating before God, I can easily lose sight of where I’m going or what’s important.
Time spent understanding your values and beliefs is one thing. The daily maintenance of living out those beliefs is another. I don’t know about you, but default maintenance looks a lot different than intentional maintenance for me. My default is the lowest common denominator of my aspirations. I have to put forth effort to do anything more.
Living Intentionally as a Practice
Now for some examples on how someone can practice living intentionally.
Relational
Something my husband and I like to practice is serving and loving each other intentionally. This may sound extremely obvious (and it is), but the conscious choice to do this helps us be conscious as we each inevitably change and grow.
We view intentionally pursuing each other through difficult times and good as part of the vows we took when we got married. Dedicating this on-purpose attitude to each other is one way we grow together vs. growing apart.
Money Management
I have talked about expense tracking and travel hacking quite extensively on this blog. Knowing where my money is going and striving to save a high percentage is a result of aiming to live intentionally in that area of my life. Investing money for a return not only represents Biblical principles but doing so also gives us more freedom.
The same goes for travel hacking. I enjoy traveling and know that I can use travel credit cards responsibly to make trips more affordable. Thus making the most of our allocated travel money. Studying the system to get Hawaii flights for essentially free is a result of that pointed intentionality.
Health and Fitness
Another example is health and fitness. If we aren’t intentional about finding a way to routinely move our bodies and exercise, it won’t happen. In the same sense, chipping away at our nutritional choices is an ongoing task. Maybe it’s deciding to go out and get dessert when I’m craving cookies vs. making a whole batch at home. Or maybe it’s finding that daily caffeine actually lowers my quality of life by heightening a natural tendency to be uptight and stressed. I have enjoyed making coffee a special once-in-a-while thing. Same with sweets. These are small changes that have made big impacts on my overall health and quality of life.
Bottom Line
Honestly, it’s difficult to sit down and write this style of post. Figuring out what it means to live intentionally is one thing. Writing about it in a way that makes sense is another.
Regardless, when life feels like it’s moving too fast and I’m suddenly on the cusp of a new milestone–another year down, a new job, a big life change–I always revisit what it means to live intentionally. It’s a way to ground myself through those times and remember what truly matters.
Hopefully, this post offered some ideas of what it can mean to live intentionally and shared a little more depth about my personal perspective.
