Living Intentionally

Over the course of the last month I’ve written around 20 articles on living well in the new year. What I’ve been doing is systematically walking through the mental model that I hold in my head as I’m working with my clients. Tomorrow I will summarize this in detail. What I want to talk about today is what everything else I’ve written about has been set up to support, which has to do with what do we do with ourselves each day, day in, day out.

Author and speaker, Zig Ziglar used to ask his audiences “are you a wandering generality, or a meaningful specific?” He was a fan of having specific goals and a course of action to bring those goals into reality. I’m not so much talking about goal setting, as I am being conscious of what you’re doing with your time on the planet, living deliberately and having your days be an expression of that set of intentions.

[I am offering a discounted block of 4 sessions for $599 for first time clients. Use Link-tree in profile or message me directly ]

As you may have read, I have borrowed from a friend a basic framework for intentionality in life which is that you only get three pursuits or less. If you really want to be affective not spread too thin and able to go reasonably deep into any pursuit you probably should only have three or less at any given time.

For example, I have my coaching business and I have “creative pursuits” currently manifesting in the form of music and photography. Those are my 3 things. Now this doesn’t mean I don’t exercise, cook or go to the dmv. Those things are assumed. What I’m talking about are the things I’m dedicating meaningful amounts of time too. I publish an article like this every day. I am taking photography classes and spending time in a darkroom. I am recording a 4 song project. These things all take attention, time, money and energy.

Here’s what I do.

I wake up every day, I get up and I write. When I’m done writing, I eat and publish the article. Then on client days I have my clients and then I run to the dark room at my local college. At night I work on music. Fridays I take my black and white photography class which lasts all day. Weekends I usually travel and shoot film.

Everything is organized around these 3 things.

So, a critical thing to do is to sit down reflect over time and decide what your three things (or less). Then you organize your days and your weeks with those three things in mind. I wake up every morning and I think about what it is I’m doing with my time on the planet and I remind myself of the decisions I’ve made and my days are organized around those pursuits.

Know over the course of the last month I’ve written about many other things besides what I do every single day with my time. I’ve written about intentionality, renunciation, food, sleep, exercise, water consumption, healing, mindfulness and relationships.

It seems like a lot, but all of the other elements that I’ve just listed are in support of the three things. They are there so that when I turn my attention to what I decided is most important I have the energy and the focus and the mental physical and emotional health and the supportive relationships to do when I’m here to do. This is how I support people to construct a life that is fulfilling.

I will have more to say about this tomorrow as I wrap up this Series.

——————

Pablo Das is trained as a Buddhist teacher and as a Holistic Wellness coach (HHC). He is a practitioner of Somatic Experiencing (SEP) and is an advocate for a trauma centered, Buddhist approach to recovery from Addiction Patterns.