Intentional living as a creative means you have a clear vision for your career aspirations with every task in alignment with the bigger picture.
For example: Is your work to inspire, explore, advocate? What feelings do you want to invoke with your work? Joy, love, gratitude, passion?
If you aren’t sure, try free writing every morning or evening for 10 minutes to explore what you want.
After you have figured out your intention, follow this guide on how to live it with purpose and meaning.
1.BELONGING
Who are the five people in your life you spend the most time with?
Jim Rohn, Author & Motivational speaker, says that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with.
Think about how much of your conversations, activities, and deciding where / what to eat are influenced by family and friends?
2. Asking “ why”
Have you ever been productively procrastinating?
Suddenly finding yourself deleting some emails, or vigorously organizing your desk… we’ve all been there ( believe me!)
Yet by knowing the“why” behind every task helps to get the most out of your day.
Next time try asking:
- How is *name task* helping me get closer to achieving my goal?
- What are my top priorities for today?
- Do I have everything I need to be fully present before starting this task? ( Water, proper breaks, nutrition, no distractions)
3. SELF REFLECTION PROMPTS
Making time to answer self reflection questions about my creativity, was something I struggled with.
I had a general idea of the answers in my head so that should be enough, right?
It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders when I dedicated time to write out thoughtful answers to questions that challenged my desires.
You lose out on a deeper understanding, self-awareness, and productivity by dismissing self reflection.
It helps to ask:
- How do I want to feel creatively in the next year?
- How can I prioritise my creativity?
- What new creative adventures do I want to explore?
THE TAKEAWAY?
As a creative, when you practice intentional living you are fostering a space that helps your best self to grow. Suddenly, by putting mindfulness to each decision you can accomplish the things you’ve always dreamed of. This can be accomplished by :
- finding belonging ( who are the five people you spend the most time with?),
- establish the meaning behind your tasks ( what are my top priorities for the today? is this task helping me to achieve that or is it just busy work?)
- make time to challenge yourself with self reflection ( How do you want to feel creatively in the next year?)