How To Live A Self-Determined Life With Intention

Self Determined Life | Personal Growth | Personal Development

"If your life was a car, who would you like behind the steering wheel?", "Who do you want to be the author of your life story?". There's a whole list of wise and smart quotes about taking ownership of your life. But as beautiful and empowering as they might sound, the big question remains: How do I actually make it happen? The cherry on top is to be intentional about your life and life decisions. It's almost like having a compass pointing you to a direction without necessarily knowing the destination. With your compass in your pocket and yourself behind the steering wheel, let's start the journey on how to live a self-determined life with intention.

Start Small

Living a self-determined life doesn't mean that you have to quit your job or move countries or make any other radical changes, it's all about the small steps. It's almost like building a new habit where you break up the big change you would like to achieve in micro steps. In other words: Rome wasn't built in a day - and it's the same with a self-determined life. You want to feel empowered at work? Start setting boundaries and say no or ask for time to consider the request from your boss. Finally want to change jobs because you simply cannot take it anymore? Start talking to people who do what you would like to do or look for volunteering opportunities in an area that interests you. Another common topic: getting back into shape. If you want to move more, start going for a walk in the evening, park your car further away when you go grocery shopping. Always remember: when you do something, as small as it may seem to you, you do already much more than the person who doesn't do anything. And step by step you will get closer to that driver’s seat.

Know Yourself

So what does your car look like? Or to move away from the car analogy: what color is your book? Is it a thriller, a romance or a drama? It better not be science fiction, because we’re talking about your real life. But let's not get carried away with the book analogy, either. The essential part is that you know what's inside (and outside). Be curious about yourself, observe yourself, find out what you love doing, what you are afraid of and respect yourself. You cannot start a journey without knowing what vehicle you're stepping in to and how to drive it. Building self-awareness takes time, but is definitely worth it. Don't forget that you'll spend the rest of your life with yourself and you better know that person well.

Trust your gut feeling

The more you know yourself and the more you know what you want (and what you don't want), the more clarity you will gain over your inner compass. Call it intuition, gut feeling or inner voice - when you know you know. The muscle of self-awareness directly influences the inner strength muscle. Together they form your stamina and the more inner strength you have, the more you will trust yourself and your gut feeling. It's all a question of training.

Celebrate

The big achievements, the small ones, they all deserve a place in your party planner. Once we reach a specific goal, we already think about the next one and rarely take time to celebrate our achievements. What happens very often as well is that we wait for external approval, when we should be the one patting ourselves on the back and be our own cheerleader along the way.

Pause

So much wisdom lies in being with yourself without any distractions and without any urge to do something. It's not always easy to be with yourself, but it's in those moments when all your learning sinks in, you give yourself the chance to reflect, and finally to decide what's next for you - with intention. An intention can be manifold and doesn't necessarily have to be a sentence you write down in the morning. The most important part about it is that it comes from you, from deep inside of you. You can best connect with this place when there's not much noise and chatter around and when you give yourself the permission to simply be with yourself and to listen to the most compassionate, courageous and caring part of you who wants what is best for you and knows you best. If this is something you struggle with, the article How to Silence Your Inner Critic might help you.

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