Tell me,
How are you living intentionally?
I'll give you a moment to think about that.
And remember,
There are only right answers,
Because this is completely personal to you.
I remember about 20 years ago,
When I was still in corporate,
And there was a group of us all sitting around having a conversation.
And we were talking about how it felt like time was speeding up.
You know,
It's one of those moments when someone says,
Didn't we just do that last week?
And you think,
I'm sure that was last month.
And one of the team mentioned how they'd read an article,
And it said,
It explained how time does feel like it is speeding up.
And that is because of our routines.
You see,
We get ourselves into a habit of doing the same thing over and over again.
We wake up at the same time.
We have the same breakfast.
We take the same route to work.
We eat the same lunch.
We come home the same way.
And week after week,
It all starts to look and feel the same.
And that's why,
And that's when,
Time begins to blur.
So what can we do about it?
Well,
It's really quite simple.
If you want time to feel different,
You have to do things differently.
And I'm going to be honest with you,
I love a routine.
It keeps me organised,
Grounded,
And it makes my day flow.
But there is a difference between having a routine and living on autopilot.
You see,
When you are intentionally living,
It's about snapping out of sleepwalking through the day.
And a lot of people I work with,
Amazing,
Capable individuals,
Who look like they have it all on the outside,
But inside,
It's a bit different.
They're actually living most of their lives on autopilot.
They're so busy,
They're so productive,
But they're not present.
They're existing,
Not living.
Over the next few minutes,
I want to share with you how you can begin to live more intentionally,
So your days feel fuller and more meaningful.
So,
Take a moment now to reflect.
How much of your time would you say you spend intentionally?
Maybe most of it?
Some of it?
A very small portion of it?
And then I want you to take a think and tell me how much of your time you spend on autopilot.
About 50-50?
More on autopilot than intentional living?
And then tell me how that feels.
How does it feel when you are living intentionally versus when you're living on autopilot?
When you're just going with the flow,
Allowing life to just happen,
Being swept along by whatever might be happening?
You see,
The purpose,
The point of intentional living is to be fully present,
To be fully here right now,
To see what is actually going on in front of your eyes,
Rather than dwelling on the past,
Which has already happened and you can't do anything about,
Or fixating on the future,
Which has yet to happen and actually is determined by the here and now.
As Eckhart Tolle tells us,
The only moment we truly have is now.
And when we live intentionally,
We actually see our lives.
We make choices that are aligned with what matters.
Without it,
Life just slides by.
Days seem to blur into each other and the routine takes over.
And what does that actually mean?
It means we potentially miss out on the small,
Meaningful moments right in front of us.
We just don't see them.
They happen and we're blind to them.
So being present is one of the best gifts that you can give yourself.
And by doing that,
You're giving gifts to the people around you.
So how can you actually go about living intentionally?
What does it look like?
There are two approaches.
One is really simple and the other one takes a little bit more practice.
So the first one is really simple.
And all you have to do is set your intentions for the day.
I've got myself into a routine recently where every morning I set my intentions for the day.
Sometimes they can be very specific based on an outcome and sometimes they can be more general.
So more general ones are more about having a day,
Experiencing a day that is full of joy,
Love and happiness.
Some more specific ones are around delivering a really good keynote talk.
Now,
Why is this useful?
What is the point of setting an intention?
Because when you set intentions,
You're giving your mind a direction.
You're telling your brain what to look for.
And so your brain will filter your day through that lens.
It will be focused on the intention that you have set.
It will kindly put to one side the things that don't match with your intention.
And because of that,
It changes your energy.
It shifts what you notice.
And over time,
Those small repeated changes will change the way you experience your life.
Now,
The second approach you can take takes a lot more practice,
As I've already said,
And takes more effort because of it.
And that is knowing the purpose behind everything you do.
This is quite a big one.
But it will have a larger impact on how you live your life because knowing why you're doing something gives you clarity in the way you live your life.
And this applies to everything.
And I mean everything.
Chores,
Work,
Relationships,
Interactions.
Everything that makes up your day.
All of it.
You see,
When I know my intention,
I show up differently.
I'm more present,
More open.
I act more purposefully.
So I ask you to be more open and ask yourself,
Before you do anything,
What is the purpose of doing this?
What is the purpose of waking up in the morning?
What is the purpose of having breakfast?
What is the purpose of looking on social media?
What is the purpose of saying yes to that person?
What is the purpose of this next conversation?
What is the purpose of scrolling through social media?
And when you understand the purpose,
Life will look different.
Let me give you an example.
I love cooking.
And obviously,
You know,
We all need to eat.
But for me,
Cooking meals for my family is a joy because I know my purpose.
And the purpose around why I do something.
For me,
Cooking means I get to be creative.
I enjoy the time to myself whilst I'm cooking.
I'm preparing something delicious that we'll all enjoy together.
And it becomes a moment for us all to reconnect at the end of the day when I put the food on the table.
You see,
Being intentional turns an everyday task into a completely different experience.
So,
I invite you to live with intention.
And I can hear you already say,
Oh my goodness,
Maria,
If I have to ask myself before I do anything,
What is the purpose?
Potentially,
I'm never going to leave the house.
Yes,
It could happen.
So,
Instead of trying to do it all in one go,
Just pick one thing.
And ensure that you're always asking yourself what is the purpose before you do that one thing.
And then as you get used to questioning yourself,
Reaffirming what you're going to do,
Then add more things.
And actually,
You'll find over time,
It becomes automatic.
It's a natural question that you ask yourself.
So,
In closing,
I just wanted to remind you that if you want things to change,
You have to change the way you do things.
And one way of helping yourself do this is to live with intention.
To know the purpose behind why you do things.
