According to good ole’ Merriam Webster the word intentional is defined as “done on purpose; deliberate”. At times it is so easy for me to go into “auto-pilot” and lose sight of what it means to be intentional. Does this ever happen to you?
I remember last year, one of my favorite SLP meetings was when we talked about doing things with a purpose and being intentional with all of our actions. I specifically remember talking about being intentional in the small tasks in life. How easy is it for us to go through life without being purposeful in our actions? Too often, I find myself walking across campus and all of a sudden I am at my destination and I don’t even remember where I was walking from. It is so easy for me to be focused on the future, and not be intentional in the present. As I look to the future, I forget about being intentional with my present relationships and how that affects servant-leadership.
This past summer I worked at Lake Wapogasset Lutheran Bible Camp, and my boss used the word intentional often, quite often actually. As a camp counselor, I had to be very intentional in lots of different relationships. First, I had to be intentional with my campers. I had to be intentional in my conversations with them so they knew they could talk to me. If they could see how passionate I was leading Bible study, they would (hopefully) be inspired to learn more. Second, I had to be intentional with my co-counselor of the week. I had to make sure that we were working well together and communicating effectively so we could be good examples for our campers. Third, I had to be intentional with the rest of the staff. The 70 other college students who I worked with were my family for three and a half months (literally, my sister worked with me), so I needed to be intentional with building and maintaining good friendships. Last, I had to be intentional in my faith. I knew that I couldn’t be intentional in the ALL other aspects with out sustaining my personal relationship with God.
Throughout my summer at camp, I learned how being intentional contributes to servant-leadership. I needed to be intentional with serving the community I was living in through serving my campers, co-counselors, fellow staff, and also serving myself in sustaining faith. Through being intentional in these aspects, I could better lead my campers in their Bible studies, my co-counselor through frustrating situations, other staff members in helpful conversations, and myself in dedicating time to personal growth.
So, how does my experience with the word intentional apply to you and servant-leadership? Well, when was the last time you talked to a friend and really figured out “How they were doing?” How often do you spend time alone to focus on your personal growth? When did you last walk around campus and not think about the future but instead the here and now? From my experience I believe that when you are intentional in relationships with peers, those you are leading and personal growth, you are capable of being a better leader because you are more equipped with an understanding of others and yourself. So I want to leave you this, being intentional is not simply asking how a friend’s day is going; being intentional is asking and truly listening to the response.
~Heidi
Heidi,
I liked your article. I never really considered how being intentional not only helps us to be present, but be more productive and successful. I’m also usually very focused on the future and think that I don’t have the time to be present because I need all the time I have to focus on what is coming up with school work, activities, etc. What is interesting is that if we do give ourselves time to be present we aren’t just able to focus more on what we are doing, but like Kyle mentioned, we are able to question and think about why we are doing the things we are doing and hopefully this gives us motivation and energy to complete our everyday tasks.
Heidi-
This comment reminded me of our meeting last year about being purposeful and present in all of our actions. For those of you that have no idea what I am referring to, we basically talked about how we have a tendency to just “get through things” and focus on certain things in the future. I know I struggle with this concept a lot, I tend to be future oriented and I sometimes forget to be present or intentional in some of my actions. Does anyone else struggle with this?
I especially have problems with this mentality with activities that are less enjoyable (ie: work, studying, cleaning). I try to be more intentional in these activities by concentrating on the positive aspects of what I am doing and how I am personally contributing. Does anyone else have an effective method of being present?
Michelle,
That was my favorite meeting from last year, and the basis of why I wrote this blog! Being fully present is so difficult at times for me, and it take continuous awareness to make sure that I am doing my best to be fully present. Especially during these last few weeks of school it is difficult to be fully present!
Very good article. I now really like the word intentional. I never thought of it as a deep and meaningful word. I think we also need to step back daily and give our lives some context as to why we are living out our daily lives. This may help us in receiving some energy in our daily routine and do things with intention and purpose.