Do You Want to Become More Intentional? Here are 10 Habits to Adopt

Creating intentional daily habits can help you create a more meaningful life. I have listed 10 habits you can adopt that can significantly change the direction of your life. Having these 10 habits set can put you on the path toward the life you want to cultivate. It has changed my life and it can change yours too!

10 Habits to Adopt to Become More Intentional

1. Create a Daily Routine

Creating a daily routine will allow you to get tasks done that normally would require thought and decision making. It is important to realize, if you build a daily routine that then becomes habit, you won’t experience as much decision fatigue throughout your day, which is something I believe so many of us face on a daily basis. An example can be something as simple (yet sometimes daunting) as doing the dishes. *Do I have to do the dishes today? Well, I do the dishes every day therefore it isn’t a decision to be made now. To rephrase it, the decision has already been made that I do a load of dishes every day so I know it’s something that I will prioritize doing. Previously, you would have to decide when to do the dishes and it could cause grief if you put it off for your future self.

2. Keep a Running List of Goals

By keeping a running list of goals or a goal list that you periodically add to, you can be flexible with what you choose to work towards during the day, week, or month to accomplish some of the bigger to-dos or projects on your list. I believe approaching your goals intuitively can help in the satisfaction of completing them. Surprisingly, remaining flexible with your goal list can reduce burn out because it reduces the pressure behind reaching them. However, it is equally important to prioritize your goals that have strict deadlines because most of us have those as well. It’s a fine balance. With this in mind, once you complete one goal (and certainly celebrate it!), you can then decide what goal to move on to next.

3. Build Healthy Relationships

Working on your relationships with those you love and building that connection with them is significant and often not prioritized. Can you schedule time daily or weekly to connect with a loved one, whether it’s a family member or a friend? It isn’t realistic to be in contact with everyone you love all the time, but it is important to be intentional with our time and scheduling this time to connect can help build healthy relationships.

4. Declutter

Keeping your physical space decluttered can undeniably clear mental space as well. If you feel that you’re falling behind or overwhelmed with the sheer volume of things you need to get done around you, clearing out items that no longer serve you may help. Decluttering can provide clarity to your life and help you focus on the things that truly matter to you. To clarify, decluttering has a significant impact on our mental health. Another key point is the less physical clutter you have to manage, frees up the time you would be using to manage it for other activities. If it takes you ten minutes to clean off your counters in order to wipe them down, that is ten minutes you can get back to put towards something else you’d rather be doing if you had cleared the clutter off of your counters permanently.

5. Become a Conscious Consumer

By becoming a conscious consumer you naturally become more intentional. To begin with, when you become a conscious consumer you reevaluate and redefine the purpose behind your items and purchases. You also develop a series of questions that you will begin to naturally ask yourself before making purchases. Doing so allows you to differentiate between wants and needs, become more conscious with your spending, and limits clutter from building back up in your home.

6. Plan and Prioritize Your Time

Planning how you spend your time, with whom and for how long, will empower you to start saying no to the activities or people that no longer “fill up your cup.” If you take the time to plan your week and develop this habit; you are taking back the ability to prioritize your time and focus your energy toward what you want. This allows you to live in a more intentional way.

7. Focus on Your Mental Health

Listen to your body when your “check-engine” lights start flashing. Yes, I’m talking to YOU. If you’re feeling burn out, anxiety, or overwhelm; please take a moment to focus on the physical symptoms your body is expressing. What do these symptoms feel like? Heaviness in your chest? Shallow breathing? Eventually, once you become aware of how to recognize these symptoms, you can begin to incorporate practices that help with your mental health. Meditation, breathing exercises, or finding other healthy coping mechanisms that work for you can be helpful.

8. Get a Form of Daily Movement

You are only gifted one body: it’s important to take care of it. Taking care of your physical health is one of the best habits you can develop and often overlooked. Your body is your home. To emphasize this; YOUR BODY IS YOUR HOME. As a nurse I have seen first hand what can happen when you don’t take care of yourself; mentally and physically. Introducing daily movement into your routine can not only provide health benefits but can also help provide mental clarity. Physical movement can reduce anxiety, alleviate pain, and ground you in the present moment. As I have mentioned before, practicing daily movement and monitoring your body can also help reduce stress and overwhelm.

Daily movement practices don’t have to be cemented in your schedule. Allow them to naturally occur if that’s what works for you. Use your intuition when deciding when and how to move your body. Have you been sitting all day at work and your lower back has started to ache? Maybe get up and go on a short walk during lunch. Can you practice stretching every night before you go to sleep? Would doing a workout with a friend or going on a walk with a friend be easily added to your day? Adding daily movement doesn’t have to be stressful. Listen to your own body and do what feels good for you for that day. Walking, pilates, gentle stretching, HIIT, weight lifting; whatever feels good for you today (unless you have certain goals and are following a strict plan or workout schedule). Get up and move.

9. Practice Gratitude Daily

You may hear this and groan, but developing a simple habit of practicing gratitude can truly help change your perspective on your life. Becoming aware and taking the time to appreciate what you already have can bring you fully into the present moment. It is so easy to get wrapped up in the wants of the modern world; some examples being the newest technology, the trendiest clothes, or the flashiest car. Practicing gratitude can truly open your eyes and let you see what you have to be grateful for, right here and right now, in your life.

10. Remain Positive

Sometimes in life, we are faced with challenges that seem insurmountable. However, by shifting our perspective and focusing on any positive aspects you can identify, we can navigate through even the darkest of days. It’s important to remember that by keeping an optimistic outlook, we can uncover hidden blessings that are right in front of us. While it may be tempting to dwell on the negative, and honestly it’s easier to focus on the negative, it’s essential to search for the good in every situation. Strive to see the beauty and positivity that surrounds us, even in the face of challenges.

Start Small

If you haven’t started practicing any of the habits I mentioned above, that’s okay. Take it one step at a time. Building lasting habits takes time and consistency. Choose one habit to focus on and commit to strengthening it. With dedication, you can cultivate all ten habits and be well on your way to living a purposeful life.

Conclusion

Developing daily habits and being intentional with your time will help you create a more meaningful life. Use these ten habits as a guideline to help you determine what habits you want to build next to become the best version of yourself. Let me know what habits you are working on developing in the comments below. I’m eager to hear what everyone is focusing on right now!