As we start to welcome the New Year 2022, let us give ourselves a much deserved ‘creative break’ and reconnect with the true purpose of your life and your IKIGAI and lead with holistic intentions.
The year 2021 tested the nerves and commitment of all entrepreneurs globally and we saw a huge number of entrepreneurial ventures kept their plans on hold and stayed in a reactive mode for the most part of the year. Such an environment is a perfect breeding ground of self doubts; the higher than usual uncertainty brings extra pressure and fears, and we find it challenging to rise and stay above this environment.
Mindful and intentional living to rise above cycle of hustling
The decision to rise above the circle of nonstop hustling, running from one uncertain day to another, passive reactivity and bringing mindful living in everyday life is daunting. But totally worth it.
Making a choice to live with purpose and stay mindful of actions, reactions and patterns is a transformational choice. By making this choice, you take the first step to gaining power and leading your life in the right direction of your dreams.
Know the basics of mindful living
The concept of living with mindfulness and awareness is a common practice in meditative practices. It is quite common for meditation practitioners to start with intentions and see their goals with higher awareness. The intentions come with greater awareness of your dreams, what your true purpose is or intended outcome.
Intentional living brings all the good qualities of meditative practices into your daily life. This is quite a shift from being in the mindset of ‘chasing or reacting’.
What is an Intentional Entrepreneur Mindset?
Living based on your key values is essential to your all-round wellbeing and holistic success. Sadly, many times this phrase is misunderstood. Many ambitious people think of it as an alternate living not suited for regular people. Far from it, living intentionally is not a fancy term for leaving everything and living on top of a mountain as a monk. Living as an intentional entrepreneur means raising higher levels of awareness of what truly matters.
Stepping in the Intentional Entrepreneur Mindset
This is a good time to invest in some soul searching, rekindle your dreams and realign with your purpose. The intentional entrepreneur mindset is all about believing in yourself and your dreams and building your business with intentions and harnessing the power of alignment.
This shift allows you to step back from the over-rated and much hyped ‘hustling entrepreneur’ model that is keeping you in a constant flurry of actions and reactions but may not be serving your ultimate life purpose.
Let go of being in a hustling mindset Have you noticed how much the trendy term ‘hustling’ keeps cropping up in all conversations about entrepreneur success? Hustling is seen as a highly coveted personality trait and working style for entrepreneurs.
So, you might wonder why I am suggesting avoiding this trend. I am inviting you to leave the ‘reacting mode’ and instead live and operate from an ‘aware and intentional mode’.
Setting intentions is a game changer; here is how to set holistic intentions: Let us know the intention vs. wishful thinking.
An intention is a wish, but it is not wishful thinking. This wish comes from a place of harmony between your dreams, desires and fully accepting your ambitions and outcomes you want to achieve.
Setting intentions does stem from meditative practices but this is not limited to meditations, prayer, or healing. This beautiful, powerful, and untapped tool is very much available to practice in our everyday life. This art can be used to create your business and success path with some self-work and some degree of effort.
Create a space for your intentions and dreams
This is an essential step towards our journey as this requires some effort on your part. You will need to step back and create ‘a space’ where you can be fully present and explore and allow your heart and mind to come together.
A good example of creating a space is just identifying an area of your office or home where you are able to spend quality time uninterrupted and create a vision board. Another example is to use a big drawing board or whiteboard and markers.
Next; Allocate time for success visualization
This might look difficult to lots of over worked and restless people who may not see the value in spending time on visualization. However, let me ask you to keep an open mind and give yourself some time for this exercise.
The key to visualization is to imagine you already have the success, your goals are already fulfilled and to see how your life looks in this perfect state.
Visualization is a tool that helps you to start internalizing your true purpose, your intended outcomes, and dreams. Your intention at this step must be to create your ‘dream life’ whatever it is on paper, a drawing board or your laptop. Write, draw or paint, list or make pointers of all that is part of your life when you have achieved your desired success:
• What is the impact you are making?
• What does your life look like?
• How do you look, feel and act?
• What does a day in your life look like?
• How do you spend your weekend/holidays?
Tips for better success visualization
• Remember ‘intentions’ and start by setting an intention for this activity.
• Stay open minded and start from a positive state of mind.
• Immerse yourself in the present moment.
• Let your heart speak of your purpose and embrace your ambitions.
• Take your time and don’t rush or quit if you feel restless.
From success visualization you will have created a blueprint of your inspired business and life.
Setting sustainable action plans and goals
A mindful intentional plan is slightly different to a regular to-do-task list.
Write down your intentions about how you will achieve the success blueprint you created. Did you know that the physical act of taking a pen and paper and writing your intentions has a profound impact on your sub-conscious brain?
Be mindful of the language and words you use in life. Focus on what you intend to have – not what you wish to eliminate. E.g. say ‘I live in a place filled with nature’ instead of saying ‘I do not want to live in concrete jungle.’
Visual reminders: Keep your vision board and your intentions in your physical space. You know what they are but let these be around you and serve as a visual reminder as often as possible.
Be open to the possibilities and find simple ways to be positive and think positively.
Work towards letting go of control. It is not easy but it is a part of intentional goal setting. Start small, embrace the feel of accepting that you cannot control the outcomes and watch the panic and fears. Don’t react, just watch.
Lastly; holistic integration of Work-Life-Play
It is worthwhile to remember that your ‘success’ is not only about your business. Your life is much more than your commercial gains and business-related satisfaction.
Living as an intentional entrepreneur requires extra effort, determination, and commitment. But I want you to close your eyes for one minute and imagine how this extra effort and an intentional lifestyle will get you closer to your dreams each day!
