Most people spend their entire lives living thoughtlessly and without aim. Your emotional and mental health problems may have caused you to be discouraged and feeling hopeless. Perhaps you have had difficulty starting tasks or following through. Dreams and aspirations fall by the wayside. Time spent planning and pursuing life goals may have evaporated completely. As you get stronger emotionally, it can be a pleasant privilege to once again focus on the important aspects of your new life.
Becoming Intentional
To be intentional is to meaningfully focus on key areas of life; your actions are purposeful and not random or chaotic. You are deliberate in the way you live and what you do. Your desires, wishes, and dreams have significance and meaning for you and others; dreams are pursued with purpose and intention. You understand that sacrifices will be made. You ignore interruptions and delay gratification in order to accomplish your goals.
Limit Distractions and Interruptions
To be intentional, it is valuable to focus on how you will achieve your goals. Goals are best understood as having a high level of importance but a low level of urgency. Goals help us achieve important personal and professional tasks. Adequate time to accomplish your goals should also be considered to help avoid unnecessary urgency or crisis. It is important to allow enough time to work on and accomplish your goals. Poor planning can lead to unnecessary crises or half-finished plans.
Interruptions pull us from the task at hand. Other people are often the source of these interruptions. Someone walking by your chair while you are reading and asking a question might be an interruption. If the task is not urgent and not important, consider it a distraction. Watching television, playing video games, and endlessly texting may be viewed as distractions. They are neither urgent nor very important but manage to engage our attention and keep us from working toward any significant goal.
Stick to the Goal
We often spend far too much time with distractions and interruptions and too little time focused on our passions or goals. We are both the interruptions in others’ lives and, of course, find ourselves on the receiving end of interruptions as well. After an interruption occurs it can take several minutes or more to refocus. Distractions too, gobble our time, diverting our attention from the tedious task in front of us to something more interesting and entertaining. Being able to focus your attention and diligently follow through on your plans, will bring increased performance and an overall sense of satisfaction.
Recovery is a Journey. Enjoy the Ride!
Dr. Hal Baumchen
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