Intentionality Takes Effort and Practice... (Guest)

Intentionality Takes Effort and Practice, but Brings Rewards

Most mornings, I am abruptly woken by a small train of pounding feet, and before I can even get my bearings, my day is forced into forward motion. With four young children, all age five and under, I spend much of my day serving as cook, laundress, diaper changer, and negotiator. Some days are nothing more than a blur and I drop into bed wondering where my day went.

It’s easy for me in this season of life to get caught up in the busyness, to kick into survivor-mode and just power through the day. But this is the antithesis of what I want my life to look like. If I had to choose just one word to describe how I want to live, that word would have to be intentional.

Right now, being intentional means I pry myself away from the computer and get into the blanket tent that my children have built with both arguments and enthusiasm. It means sword-fighting when I might otherwise prefer reading and preparing meals before my household is on the brink of anarchy. Above all, living intentionally means I live by design and with purpose, with my time, talents, relationships, and my money.

Intentionality takes effort and practice, but it has its own rewards. Perhaps this is no more the case than when it comes to budgets. Budgets often get a bad rap, seen as too limiting and restrictive, but budgeting is the ultimate in being intentional. When you have a budget and are intentional with your finances, you begin to see how every dollar has meaning and every spending decision has purpose.

Your spending decisions should be moving you closer to getting what you want, not farther away from it. No one ever says, “I want to become hopelessly mired in debt.” Or “I want to live paycheck-to-paycheck,” but this is what often happens as a result of unconscious spending, or lack of intention. In order for a budget to work, it has to be more than spreadsheets and categories; you have to see a larger purpose for it, letting the way you spend your money be a result of the goals you have set.

Of course, being intentional doesn’t mean that won’t have days where you make choices contrary to what you might have wanted. I can still get caught up in blog land when I’m at home, or I can let the mounting pile of laundry distract me from the pleasure of my two-year-old running matchbox cars up and down my legs. But I don’t have to keep making those same choices over and over again. In fact, my intentions can help me regain my focus.

There’s an old Chinese proverb that says, “Inspiration does not beget action. Action begets inspiration.” If you’re frustrated with the shape of your day, the lack of creative opportunities in your life, or the balance of your savings account, don’t wait to make decisions that can change this. Take the plunge and sign up for that painting class. Slip a picture of your goal inside your wallet and ask yourself, “Is this purchase moving me closer to getting what I want?” Or, if you’re like me, hunker down in that blanket tent and relish it.

Republished on behalf of: American Center for Credit Education—ACCE; Carey Denman