Welcome to our Intentional Living challenge.  I had SO many people asking for me to go into detail about this topic.  Originally, I was going to do one of my tried-and-true series.  But, then I thought, “with something like living intentionally, you really do learn by doing”.  So, in lieu of a series I have created several “challenges” for you.  Each day or week (depending on the topic and when I post) provides you with a new challenge.  You will not only learn how to live intentional, you will actually start living intentional.  I have included a free PDF for you to keep track of your progress.  Please note the empty box below each day is for you to use.  For instance, on day 1 you could use the box for your to do list.  If you’re wondering why only “to do list” has an explanation that’s because I will keep updating the challenges on here as I post them on my platforms so be sure to follow along each day to see if we’ve covered the next topic!  Are you joining along!?  Comment below!   

1. To Do List

Instead of waking up and letting life be in control.  You’re going to wake up at the steering wheel.  Tonight, before bed, use a sticky note or a piece of paper or your phone and make a list of 3 things you want to do tomorrow along with one or two sentences detailing how you’ll get that done.  For instance, if your goal is to grab coffee before work, then your sentence would say “wake up 15 minutes earlier than normal”.  Living intentional isn’t some big elaborate 5 year plan, I mean it can be.  But it can also be as simple as just making a to do list.  You’re not going to let outside forces dictate your path any longer and that begins with taking control of our every day life. 

2. Meal Plan

For this challenge, plan out 5 meals for the upcoming week. Remember, this is going to affect how you shop for groceries so you’ll need to plan accordingly. Use what you already have first. If you’ve got tomatoes in the pantry and sour cream & ravioli in the fridge make my favorite Garden Ravioli! If you’re buying chicken for BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, make Orange Chicken that week too. Stretch those ingredients and make your money work for you. Now you might be wondering how meal planning fits into intentional living, so let’s go through some reasons. Remember, intentional living is living your life with a purpose or goals in mind. So let’s say you’re purpose is to eat healthier and not pick up fast food as often, by meal planning, you are making a conscious choice about what you are eating. If your purpose is to save money, by meal planning you are preventing yourself from impulse shopping or letting food you already have at home rot. If your purpose is to improve your mental health, by meal planning you are reducing your own stress. You don’t have to come home from work tired and try to figure out what to fix. Once you have challenge #2 wrote down, comment below what your meal plan looks like. I’d LOVE to hear!

3. Budget

How much unintentional spending do you do?? I bet it’s A LOT more than you realize. For this challenge, track your spending for one week or even one month. Analyze your results. Are you spending more or less than you thought for each of your categories?

4. Cleaning

Do you know what the most intentional cleaning schedule in the entire world is??? You guessed it, The 6/10 List! It contains the “must do” cleaning tasks. What makes a cleaning task “must do”? Anything that affects the day to day of a house, is a must do. Anything that if you hadn’t pointed it out you wouldn’t know it had been done… those are not “must do” tasks. By being intentional with the cleaning we’re doing, we’re saving our precious minutes. For the next week, complete the Daily 6 each day. You will be amazed at how tidy your home stays!

The 6/10 List

5. 5 Minutes

Procrastination… the enemy of intentional living. For the next week, if there’s a task that can be done in 5 minutes or less.. do it! Don’t put it off for later.

6. Evening

Every day seems long, right? You get home from work and exhaustion sets in. Vegging on the couch is all you want to do. Instead of plopping down as soon as you get home, I want to challenge you to complete one additional task first (besides starting dinner). Maybe run a load of laundry, tidy the living room, go through the mail. Try being more intentional during the evening and, ironically, you’ll notice that exhaustion start to fade.

7. Laundry

Laundry is one thing I’m always intentional with. I never let it fall by the wayside. How? OLAD. That’s what I call One Load a Day. By washing, drying and putting away one load a day laundry never becomes a burden. I challenge you to stick to OLAD for a couple weeks, you’ll be amazed at the results!

8. Weekend

Our weekends seems to fly by, don’t they? The perfect time to get things done and it seems we’re always so slow to start. Sundays are rest days… but Saturdays are fair game! Start each Saturday with a small to do list. Wake up with that list in mind. Cross tasks off as you complete them.

9. Doom Scrolling

Our phones can be so helpful, but so harmful. Doom scrolling leaves us feeling empty, unmotivated, disgusted. I challenge you to limit your scrolling. You don’t need to stop altogether. But, instead of doing so mindlessly, be intentional with it. Seek out the content creators you enjoy learning from or search a topic you’re needing help with. Don’t scroll with no goal in mind.

10. Wake Up

I swear, the best time to get stuff done… is that hour before you need to leave for the day. You’re so motivated, it starts you off on the right foot, etc. I challenge you to wake up an hour earlier than normal for the next few days. Don’t stop there, though. While you’re up, load the dishwasher, put away clothes in the dryer… make the most of your time!

Living intentionally completely changed my life and it WILL change yours too! If you complete the Intentional Living challenge, comment below. I’d LOVE to hear your results!

-Aud