I often find myself caught up in daily tasks and distractions, such as phone notifications, Slack messages, and side projects. Who doesn’t? It’s just part of life. While I’ve generally been effective at setting and achieving goals, I frequently notice that the activities truly aligned with my core values get postponed due to these distractions.

I need to constantly remind myself to slow down and live intentionally, and I’m writing this as a reminder. It’s okay not to do everything, and it’s better to focus on one task at a time than to attempt twenty and complete none to the standard you truly desire.

Experience the satisfaction of finishing what truly matters to what aligns with your values. This approach helps me to have a more peaceful, fulfilling, and happier life. That’s all I want.

What Living Intentionally Means

To me, living intentionally is the feeling that you are doing what you already decided is best for you. It’s when you stick to the type of life you planned, instead of being carried away by someone else’s priorities or device priorities like social media notifications.

All those tools are designed to steal your focus. It’s hard sometimes to remember that doing those things is not what you originally planned. So, living intentionally is to stick to what you really want to do rather than doing what someone or something else wants you to do.

When I say I get dragged into other responsibilities, the frustration is that I prioritize someone else’s agenda over mine. I postpone my own personal interests and feel responsible for other priorities, leaving my own behind.

My techniques for Living Intentionally

1. The Bullet Journal Ritual

The bullet journal is probably the main tool I use to ensure I live intentionally. Other tools like Todoist are great for future reminders and project tracking, but I often find myself overwhelmed when I open them. Seeing a lot of to-do items and new ideas sparks a loss of focus on my long-term goals and values.

My Ritual:

• Monthly: At the start of a new month, I look at the calendar, write down main dates, and migrate things from previous months.
• Daily: Before migrating things over, I think through every day to decide what I really want to accomplish. Only then do I look back and migrate the essential items that need my focus that day.

2. Physical and Focused Tools

• Whiteboard: I have a whiteboard in my home office. Using a big canvas to write things down while I move helps me focus on what’s physically in front of me.
• Time Timer: I use a time timer. A small, visual, non-digital countdown clock. This helps me focus on the task in front of me and avoid digital distractions like my phone or Slack, which removes the temptation to procrastinate. This is related to Pomodoro, but I don’t follow the traditional technique strictly.

3. Goal Setting and Retrospectives

I set quarterly goals in Notion, revisiting them monthly. The real balance between living intentionally and not is found in my retrospectives:

• Weekly Retrospectives: I do this for both work (in Obsidian) and personal life (in the bullet journal).
• Monthly Retrospective: I write a detailed monthly retrospective in Notion (let me know if you’d like me to show you my setup), including a section dedicated to Learnings. Comparing the goals I set with the retrospective results is where I see the gaps in my intentional living.

4. The Power of Doing One Thing

If I feel overwhelmed, I will scratch everything planned for a single day and just focus on one thing, and one thing only. I need to remind myself that I can’t simply do everything I plan to. It’s better to do one thing and feel the accomplishment than to be overwhelmed and do nothing.

The Role of Exercise

Exercise is a core foundation of my wellness, just like sleeping. It contributes to living intentionally because you feel not only the dopamine effect after exercising but also the sense of having done something good for you.

If I feel quite overwhelmed by the amount of things to do, it’s sometimes better to just get out, do a quick exercise, and come back. That’s like taking a power nap. You might feel like you’re wasting time, but it’s a boost that will help you get through your list much more efficiently.

Prioritizing and Values

Prioritizing work and personal goals is hard, and it depends on the season. For instance, having recently joined a new company, I’m certainly prioritizing work over personal goals right now. Once I’m more settled, I’ll return to long-standing personal projects.

My values change over time. This is completely dependent on the time of year and life circumstances. Every year, my values have subtle differences. One year might value happiness over excellence, another might value growth over simplicity. These definitely vary.

Closing thoughts

Ultimately, the journey toward intentional living isn’t about perfect execution. It’s about constant awareness. Distractions will always appear, whether they are Slack messages, family requests, or the siren call of a side project. The goal is to build simple, resilient systems like the bullet journal or the Time Timer that continuously draw you back to your true north.

Remember that your values are not static. They shift as you grow, and your priorities should shift with them. Give yourself grace, embrace the occasional pivot, and always choose the singular, meaningful task over the overwhelming list of twenty.

Take one task, and do it. Feel the accomplishment. Repeat. One day at a time.