Over the next three minutes I plan to show you, yes YOU, how to suck a little bit less. Are you ready for this life changing piece of advice. Is the anticipation building? If you want to be less sucky, you have to BE INTENTIONAL.
Pretty straightforward huh? It’s currently my favorite life lesson. Probably because I’m really intentional in some aspects of my life, and totally not intentional in others. If my New Years resolution wasn’t already “Eat as many California Burritos as possible” it would definitely be “Work on being intentional.” Here’s where I am (or would like to be) intentional.
Personal Finance:
If you are reading this, I’m going to assume you are at least attempting to be intentional when it comes to managing your money (that is unless you found my website by typing in “worst websites that have ever existed” in Google). Being intentional with respect to your finances means you A) know how much money you bring home each month, B) know roughly how much you are spending each month, C) have some type of plan to make A greater than B, and D) donate $5 to me (how’s that for a not-so-subliminal message?).
Food:
I’m 50% awesome and 50% horrible when it comes to being intentional with the types of food I put in my body. Last night was a good night, I had a pesto and turkey panini on wheat bread. The night before I was naughty and had Carne Asada Fries and Arnold Palmer. I’m not saying we can’t enjoy some guilty pleasures every now and again, but we should definitely be aware how much of what we are putting down our throat. Moral of the story kids, eat more broccoli and hit the treadmill every now and again. Your future self will thank you for it.
Work:
I started my first day of work, an arrogant college graduate. Long story short, my boss kinda hated me for the first twelve months I worked for him. I knew I had some major work ahead of me (both figuratively and literally) if I wanted to get on my bosses good side. I spent the next two years volunteering for less than ideal assignments, I helped train new staff, I traveled to places people didn’t want to go, I said “Yes” every time he asked me to do something, no matter how much I didn’t want to do it. I wanted my boss to know, that although I might be a little arrogant, I’m an asset to his team and the agency. Fortunately, he doesn’t hate me anymore, and dare I say, he actually kinda likes me. A little hard work, doesn’t pay off. A lot of hard work, though, is a different story.
Relationships:
Ah relationships. This was actually the motivating topic for this blog post. I really want to need to be intentional with those that I’m close to, whether it be professional contacts, friends, or family. Think about the people you are closest to. When’s the last time you asked them how they were doing? I’m not talking like “Hey Bob, how’s it going”, but saying “Hey Bob, how’s it going, like really, how’s it going?” You’ll be amazed at the response. This is especially true for us guys, contrary to popular belief there are more important things in life than football, beer, and gasp….hot chicks. Next time you are in the car with a buddy, I dare you to turn the radio off. You’ll feel pretty awkward for the first five minutes, but after that you might be surprised by the meaningful conversation that can occur. I’m a firm believer relationships have the best return on investment.
How ’bout it readers? Why is being intentional so hard? Why is being lazy or passive so easy? Where are you strengths and weaknesses in regards to being intentional?
