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You might have heard the term “intentionality” being used alongside terms like “mindfulness” and “minimalism.”

The essential idea behind the term is that you should live your life in a deliberate way, guided by your own choices, preferences, and plans, rather than solely by external forces. Living a more “intentional” life is essentially the opposite of living an “unconscious” life where you allow your attention to be dragged this way and that.

There are many reasons why someone might choose to pursue a more intentional lifestyle, not least of all the desire to achieve meaningful things, and make the most of their time while they’re on this earth. After all, waste enough idle moments, and you waste a life.

Here are some tips for practicing more intentionality in your life.

Emphasize quality over quantity when shopping

Perhaps the first elements of “intentionality” are preference and discernment. In other words, being choosy and selective with the things you do, the things you buy, and the ways use your time.

As the minimalists have argued as well, a lot of stress and trouble often arises from our spending habits, and the accumulation of different belongings that may ultimately not be worth the money or serve our best interests, but that we felt compelled to buy nonetheless.

A great way to practice a bit more intentionality in your life, is simply to emphasise quality over quantity when shopping. Are you moving into a new place and need some furniture? Well, instead of grabbing the cheapest items you can find from your local flatpack provider, why not really invest in a high-quality real word furniture set that will stand the test of time?

Even if you can’t afford to buy a full furniture set out right, buying individual pieces such as https://foxdendecor.com/shop/bathroom-vanity/reclaimed-vanities/rustic-vanity-tower/ when you can is a much better investment than buying lower quality items of furniture and replacing them every few years.

Be intentional. Be thoughtful. Have a preference.

Tone down the noise – use distraction blocking tools

Intentionality implies focus. In fact, if you’re incapable of focusing and wielding your attention effectively, you are essentially incapable of living in an intentional manner.

Today, however, all of us are vulnerable to having our attention and capacity for focus impeded on by the constant background noise of digital distraction.

The Internet is an amazing tool, and you should make the most of it. But you shouldn’t allow yourself to fall into unconscious patterns of habit where you spend hours a day idly surfing the web, with nothing to show for it at the end.

Tone down the noise. Use distraction blocking tools such as Cold Turkey Blocker, or Freedom.

Focus on creating things, not only consuming them

By far one of the best ways of practicing intentionality in your life is to focus on creating things, and not just in consuming them.

As a consumer, you can practice discernment and intentionality, but as a creator, you absolutely have to.

When you create things – whether a business, a novel, a painting, or anything else – you have to be extremely deliberate about what you’re doing. In other words, you have to be intentional.