Hello and Happy New Year everyone! Yesterday on my personal blog, I shared that my theme for 2025 is intentionality. Sometimes, simplifying life and living intentionally means letting go of some things. With that in mind, I’ve recognized that I need to take a break from Wise & Shine so this will be my last post here for a while.

Before I go, though, I will leave you with four steps toward a more intentional life.

What is Intentional Living?

In short, intentional living means living your life according to your values and beliefs. It’s about getting clear on your personal vision and taking steps to align to that vision.

Intentional living can reduce stress by eliminating that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when something doesn’t feel quite right. It can also free up time and money to dedicate to activities that improve your life, and the lives of others.

Four Steps Toward a More Intentional Life

How do you get started? Here are four steps to put you on the path to a more intentional life.

Define Your Values

When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.

Roy E. Disney

You can’t live a life consistent with your values if you don’t know what they are, so the first step is to define your values.

Take some time to reflect and make a list of your core values. Ideally, there will be three to five values on your list. If you’re having difficulty narrowing it down, here’s a link to a personal values assessment that may help. The assessment lets you pick as many values as you want from a long list. Then it presents the values you selected in pairs, so you have to decide which ones really matter.

Once you’ve identified your top five values, write them down and keep them in a place where you’ll be reminded of them often.

Eliminate Distractions

With your list of values in mind, identify distractions that may be moving you away from the things that really matter. This involves a review of your physical environment, and also how you spend your time.

This is difficult, because it means letting go of things and tasks that don’t support a life consistent with your values. That’s what led to my decision to take a break from Wise & Shine. The couple of hours a week I spend on these posts was taking time away from other writing projects.

Build Some New Habits

Next, you need to use the time you’ve freed up by eliminating distractions to build some new habits.

In his book, Things That Matter, Joshua Becker says, “The key is not to prioritize your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” He suggests you start each day with an intention, “Today, I commit myself to…” followed by an an action that defines your priority for the day.

If, despite removing some distractions, you’re still having difficulty prioritizing things that matter, remember you can start small. See The Keys to Forming Healthy Habits and Feeling Stuck? The 2-Minute Rule Can Help! for tips.

Set Aside Time for a Regular Review

In the project world, we often talk about “scope creep”. That’s when unplanned tasks get in the way of delivering a project on time and on schedule.

When it comes to intentional living, you can avoid scope creep by checking in regularly. If new distractions have introduced themselves, it’s time to scale back and refocus on your core values. Your life is the most important project of all!

Farewell for Now

As I mentioned earlier, this will be my last post on Wise & Shine for the time being. I will continue to post on my personal blog so please visit me at Boomer Eco Crusader to stay connected.

Thanks to everyone who has read my posts over the last 15 months. I genuinely appreciate each of you and the engagement you’ve shown. I wish you all a happy and healthy 2025 where you can focus on living intentionally and the achievements that matter to you.

Learn more about me in my bio and on my personal blog at BoomerEcoCrusader.com. You can also find me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.