A guide to an intentional life

How often are you just going through the motions? Following the path of least resistance. Living in the now with no real understanding of where you are going. This is a trap that many of us fall into. This is the idea of existing and not living. Its living unintentionally. This attitude is not how you succeed, professionally or at life. You need to start playing the long game. We hear it all the time, but what is it? How does it help? And how do you do it?

Playing the long game is just another way of saying ‘acting strategically’. This means that you have long term, over-arching goals that you are aiming for.

Having clear, long-term goals is a foundational idea, upon which the rest of your life can rest. Having a deep understanding of your desired end state allows you to make decisions in the short and medium term to build a pathway to success. This has become known in corporate circles as ‘knowing the why’. This idea is the foundation of my personal and professional life, and has allowed me to be intentional in my decision making. It is almost a cheat sheet to help guide you.

Goal setting

The idea of playing the long game isn’t new or even terribly interesting but having a goal and a strategy for your life gives you a scaffold to inform your decision making. The first stage for developing this strategic thinking is to identify a desired end state. This doesn’t even have to be very clear or specific. For me, its often just a feeling, or an idea, but make sure this is a big idea. You may want to live in a certain town, get your kids to a certain school, buy your farm, whatever it is, make sure its meaningful to you. This will require some quiet thinking, but it shouldn’t take too long. If you can’t think of a long-term goal, that’s fine, just pick something that will take time to work for. Maybe a new computer, phone or renting your own apartment. By working for and achieving these smaller goals, you are learning how to set and achieve objectives. This builds your decision-making muscles.

In a professional setting, your goals might be a little bit different. Maybe you want to move into a leadership role in the company, maybe you want to switch departments, maybe you want to change career all together! Whatever it is, make sure you have a goal that you are working towards.

Don’t let this stage bog you down. If you aren’t 100% sure about a goal, just set a target anyway and reassess as you move towards it. Don’t let analysis paralysis impede your progress.

Implementation

Now you have an idea of where you want to go, think about it often. Develop a deep understanding of the goal and what it means for you and your family. Have it in the back of your mind at all times. If, as you are thinking about it, the goal changes, that’s okay, change the goal and move in that direction. Progress is progress and you may need to explore a few ideas before you find one that really resonates.

We now have some goal posts to aim for, both personally and professionally, we can use this to make better decisions.

This is the hard bit. It will take a bit of mental discipline.

When you are in a situation at work or at home where you need to make a decision, take the time to think about the goal. In real time, you have to choose between the short-term win, or the long term win.

Say your goal is to lose weight, you may look at the muffin at the coffee shop as a short-term win when you’re hungry, but this takes you away from the long-term weight loss goal.

You may be saving for a new car, buying that new pair of jeans will make you feel good in the short term, but you are pushing away the long-term win.

You may have to choose between being distracted by social media at work, or putting your head down and making that presentation a little bit better.

These examples are smaller, more direct decision, the real challenge comes when you have to make bigger, morally courageous decisions. Should I inform the boss of an uncomfortable truth? Should I take the promotion or switch career to try something you’ve never done before? Should I stay the extra hour at work? With a clear understanding of where you want to be 5-10 years from now, the decision becomes easier.

It takes discipline and humility to continue to choose the best for yourself, but this is what winners do. There is an often quoted saying, ‘Winners do things that losers won’t’, what winners do is to consistently make good decisions.  

This decision framework applies to every part of your life. The idea being that you are trying to fight off short term gratification, for the long term, strategic win.

The great thing about playing this game with yourself is that it never ends. Once you start to get closer to achieving your goals, you have the opportunity to make your goals bigger and more impactful. This is how you continue to grow as a person and how you succeed in engineering the life you want.