Intentional Living
"It's not enough just to have lived. We should be determined to live for something." - Winston S. Churchill
"The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands." - Psalm 138:8
Doing Things with Intention
The word "Intention" itself by definition is "a mental state that represents commitment to carrying out an action or actions in the future." So if we take that idea and move it one step further into living a life of intention, what would that mean for you? I know for me that simply meant making each action I made each day have a specific purpose for achieving an intended goal whether that be short term or long term. It's common knowledge at this point that if you don't have a plan set out, whether it be vivid or vague, you won't have much chance of accomplishing what you want to see for yourself. Every life changing goal or milestone requires some sort of plan. By no means am I saying that every aspect of your plan has to be thought out the minute you think it up, I'm saying that where you want to end, needs to be the most clear out of everything. That's what many people do in their decision to pursue a degree in college, they have an end goal of what career they want and make their way through college to achieve that goal. Same thing goes for athletes. Some athletes have dreams to play it college, some want to move past that and play overseas or in the league. No matter the final destination, to reach that final goal they had to have it in mind to begin with. Everything worth having requires careful planning and intentional living to bring those plans into fruition.
Personal Experience
Throughout my life I've had different goals I've wanted for myself, some athletically motivated and some academically motivated. In a previous blog I talked about my experience playing Division 1 basketball, although I've been surrounded by basketball pretty much all my life, it had to be my decision that I wanted that accomplishment. If I didn't decide to make that a personal goal and made it a goal just because that's all I've known, I would have never accomplished it. It made the experience all the more special because I knew that I gained that accomplishment on my own. Moving onto the academic side of my life, I made it a goal to make sure I kept my grades up while playing basketball because once I'm finished with undergrad, I plan on attending medical school. Since I put my mind to accomplishing it, I've been able to maintain a 3.7 GPA throughout my first two years being a member of my school's women's basketball team. If anyone else reading this happens to be a division 1 athlete knows how busy and hectic our schedule gets especially in the midst of the season, so being able to maintain that has shown me how hard I'm capable of working for what I want. So take it from me, if you want it, you can have it. Make a plan, follow that plan with purpose, and enjoy the process of watching that dream come to reality.
Continued Affirmation
So I know throughout this post that I've been saying to plan, plan, plan, but it you don't keep yourself going or keep yourself focused, it'll be easy to get distracted from your plan. Keeping your head in the game by telling yourself you're capable and encouraging each step you take helps in keeping you motivated. The more motivated you are, the more likely you'll be to keep going. You can't live with purpose, without a purpose to live.
Encouragement
Nothing worth having happens instantly, nothing worth having happens without a plan, and nothing worth having comes easy. As soon as you begin to master this thought process, accomplishing the things you set out for yourself will become second nature. Also, through all this, don't stress yourself into insanity over wanting things to happen right away, you have to enjoy the process to truly enjoy the outcome. "All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gazes on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible." - Orison Swett Marden