Intentional Life Design.

by | Jul 1, 2023 | Uncategorized

We live one day at a time and often lose sight of this fact. Projecting too far into the future can cause anxiety, while dwelling on the past leans toward regret and sadness over situations never to return. Living in the present, that’s the way.

If these ideas are true, how can I return to living one day at a time and retrain myself to be more present? After much trial and error, I created a template for myself to use each day. I called it the Intentional Life Daily Flow Sheet. Let me tell you; it helped me tremendously by rooting me in gratitude, providing clarity and direction for the day, and a reflection section to find areas of improvement at the end of each day. I used it as an anti-to-do-list. Doing so helped me create intention, remember to be grateful, schedule time for focused, deep work, and reflect on how I could improve for the next day. The more I used the tool, the more momentum I started to build. I got more writing done, created more digital assets, did more design and 80/20 thinking, and felt calmer while detached from outcomes, thus enjoying growing and developing. 

I took concepts from several tools and books I’ve read over the years and adapted them into a tool that helped me build my way forward, trusting that each productive and fulfilling day would compound over time. Each day, I’d set aside time to have a Power Hour, a dedicated time in which I did creative work. I found my peak hour to do high-level creative work using Ari Meisel’s Less Doing Peak Time App, which is easy to use. Let me explain. 

Each day I’d open the app and tap the screen as many times as possible for a short time to find out when my central nervous system was the most primed. I learned that my time was 8 pm, so I set the alarm on my phone and labeled it Power Hour to work on a predetermined idea or project. During these hours, I mapped out my brand and business ideas, systems and lead capture, verticals for monetization, and social media channel strategies, created infographics, made outlines for newsletters, created ebooks, and a host of other things. Most of the time, I’d do this work while listening to noise-canceling headphones, binaural beats, or white noise. 

I’d employ the Pomodoro technique and work for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute break to stretch, hydrate, or use a percussive therapy massage gun, then work for another 25 minutes, followed by an additional 5-minute break. Doing so helped me work in small, focused sprints instead of long bouts of time. Sometimes I would allow several hours to go by when I felt like I was in a groove and the ideas flowed. I was training myself to create and operate within a flow state. 

Some of the best exercises I tried were from Designing Your Life, written by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. I encourage you to purchase the book, print out the practices for yourself, and adapt them as you see fit; that’s what I did.

Exercise #1: Health, Work, Play, Love Dashboard

Imagine a gas tank gauge moving left to right from complete to empty, and rate your current situation in each of the areas above. Is your tank closer to full or empty?

Upon completion, the authors suggest the following:

  1. Write a short reflection for each topic, about 250 words, and take about 30 minutes each.
  2. Identify where your work views and views on life complement one another, where they clash and ask yourself if one drives the other, and if so, how.

Exercise #2: Workview and Lifeview

  1. Address critical issues related to what work means to you, as in how you view work.
  2. The authors suggest considering the following:
  1. Why work?
  2. What’s work for?
  3. What does work mean?
  4. How does it relate to the individual, others, and society?
  5. What defines good or worthwhile work?
  6. What does money have to do with it?
  7. What do experience, growth, and fulfillment have to do with it?

Remaining Exercises (in short):

  • #3. Good Time Journal: 
  • #4 Mind Mapping: 
  • #5 Prototyping:
  • #6 Reframing Failure
  • #7 Building A Team

I’ll use myself as an example and be concise to make the point.

#1 Dashboard Exercise:

My gauges ranged from 6 to 8 out of 10 because I lacked time for so many years to focus on work. I wanted to change this behavior slowly over time. I changed my behavior to improve my scores and the quality of my life:

  • By saying no to new therapy clients
  • I start my day later in the morning to make time for long walks and sauna
  • I made hydration, light exercise, and eating at home more of a priority
  • Created daily power hours to build on my dream life and business
  • I spent more time with my significant other
  • Took the dogs for walks more consistently
  • I asked for guidance from trusted people who had more experience than me
  • I hired help to create ebooks for me based on my design concepts
  • Reached out to old friends and the like
  • Helped friends and associates when I could to have more sense of community
  • Many other things too

#2 Workview and Lifeview

Work is meaningful to me. It’s a way for me to learn about myself, others, and the world around me. It’s a vehicle to pursue excellence and serve others. Worthwhile work is intentional, creates value, and helps others in some capacity. Work and money had become more intertwined than I would have liked concerning trading time for money. I was looking for a means to have the same rewarding feeling I had working individually with clients while earning more in less time. If I had a lot of money, I would still work but focus on more creative work with select clients and projects, to have more time to enjoy life with loved ones and create more value for others. Work and money were not mutually exclusive, but I had operated that way for over a decade as I tethered myself to a self-employed linear income.

The purpose of life is to grow and evolve through trial and error. We are neither perfect nor can we grow without challenges, so we need them to attain new insights; why not lean into them? We complicate life with our inflated egos and poor communication skills. Are we not tasked with learning how to dampen the ego and improve communication skills? Are we not called to detach from the world while gaining an understanding that all things are connected? Are we not called to create our definition of meaning with the time granted? Are our lives not the greatest gift we can give offer the world? To these questions, I answer yes. 

#3 Good Time Journal

I love being a coach and therapist. I love helping people recover from their injuries, creating personalized content for them, and deepening the relationship with each session. I love teaching, demonstrating, and seeing them learn and improve their quality of life while learning not to rely on me. I also love doing creative work and conducting deep work in my daily life; this is where I discover the most about myself and whatever subject I’m focusing on. I learned a long time ago that I enjoy working alone, but I am more than willing to work on a team if we have a common goal, can communicate openly and honestly, and have shared values; when this isn’t the case, I’m out as quickly as possible. 

#4 Mind Mapping

I sketched out words on a sheet of paper and drew circles around the ones that had similarities. I repeated this until I couldn’t think of more words to right down. The themes I noticed among the many pages essentially boiled down to the following:

  • Time freedom = to spend as I saw fit
  • Financial freedom = to utilize responsibly and creatively 
  • A purpose-driven, simplistic, minimalistic lifestyle
  • Meaningful work and meaningful relationships
  • Plenty of reading, music, art, travel
  • Daily focused work that stretched my capabilities as a way of being
  • Quality > quantity in all pursuits
  • Learning, teaching, serving, and repeating
  • Taoist living principles
  • Unconventional thinking and doing
  • Freedom to fail forward
  • Radical transparency
  • Live and love deeply > Superficial pursuits

Odyssey Mapping Many Lives

  1. Life one: live safely without stretching myself personally or professionally = not a viable option for me
  2. Life two: Slightly more challenging and creative personal or professional life without going for it because of fear = not a viable option for me thanks to fear setting 
  3. Life three: Transcending The Status Quo = Escaping Competition Through Authenticity + Creating Value + Leverage, which was the best option for me

These exercises are similar to Tim Ferris’ fear-setting practice in that it stimulates creative thinking and calls for one to be honest with themselves, thus creating space for us to find the answers. Why be told what to do when we can discover the solutions for ourselves? Wouldn’t the latter be more fruitful? Would we not develop the skills to repeat as needed throughout our lifetime? 

Could you utilize some of these tools and concepts in such a way that serves your needs? Can you also personalize tools and incorporate them into a brand your building? Can you find ways to intentionally build your life forward instead of waking and reacting to external situations each day?

I believe so.