Pivoting With Intention
What is your WHY behind your WHAT? Intentional living is choosing how you want to live. How do I want to show up in my world or in any given moment? When you live with intent, you live on purpose. If we can step back from all the DOing and open up to more of the BEing and see our intentions as who and how we want to live, our purpose can become more apparent.
To simplify, ask yourself what is the WHY behind my WHAT? Our WHAT may be the purpose, but then the WHY is bigger, it is who and how do I intend to live—often having more clarity of our WHY can reveal our WHAT.
For becoming more precise on your WHY, list three words that describe how you want to show up regardless of external factors, such as compassionate, joyful, and with ease. What are the qualities you wish to embody? How do those qualities apply to how I am living my life? Whether living my purpose or job, or big life changes are those the qualities that I bring to my WHY, and is that how I want to show up in everything I do?
For letting your WHY guide you even further here's an exercise called "The Five Levels Of WHY" This technique is excellent for exploring curiosity and can help you get closer to your real WHY. Below is an example of how you might do the five levels of why yourself when exploring a pivot.
"I want to quit my job as a pilot."
1. Why Do you want to quit your job as a pilot? Because I am gone too much.
2. Why Is it essential that you're not gone so much? Because it's important for me to be around more for my family.
3. Why is it important to be more with your family? Because I want to be actively involved in raising my children.
4. Why is it essential for you to be more present in raising your children? It's important to me because a single mom raised me, and although she did a great job, I missed having a father figure.
5. Why is it important that your kids have a father figure? Because I want them to have all the advantages of having two parents present. It made me sad not to have my father present, and I don't want to miss out on watching them grow.
Finally, to narrow in and create a focus as you move forward, consider establishing a word or "mantra" that can help guide your attention as you proceed.
1. REFLECT - Start with jotting down whatever comes to your head some reflective answers to the following questions; What could I use more or less of in my life? What brings me joy? What satisfies me? What brings me frustration? What am I fearful of? By the end of the day, I feel (fill in the blank)
2. FEEL - How would I like to Feel? Once you've reviewed your responses, you'll have a better sense of the direction you'd like to go, or what may be lacking.
3. VISUALIZE - What would the perfect day FEEL like? How do you want to feel at work? How do you want to feel when you wake up in the morning and before you go to bed in the evening?
4. CREATING A LIST - Spend 10 minutes, creating a list of words that come to mind as you explore, no self-editing. Examples may be; stress-free, creative, outdoors, authentic, explore.
5. REFINE - Review and narrow down to 3 highlighted words.
6. COMMITMENT - Are you interested, or are you committed to your word? If you're merely "interested," chances are you'll make excuses for why you're not putting forth the effort to make changes. But if you're "committed" to your word, you'll do whatever it takes to implement that word and bring more of it into your life.
Take some time to think about choosing the word that feels right to you. Let this chosen word guide you and be your incentive for your WHY behind your WHAT.
Good luck with exploring what it is that further helps you discover the WHY before your WHAT so that you can choose how you show up in your world for living on purpose!
Next week's post, I will share a technique for using your intuitive intelligence to help guide you further.
Happy Living,
XO Donna
