Will you live with intentionality in 2024?

Our oldest daughter turned 16 a few weeks ago. My husband and I have the same phrase coming out of our mouths: where has the time gone? Time functions in the strangest ways. You wish for it to slow down but that seems to make it go by faster. A day feels so long in the present but then, when you reflect back, a year feels like it went by in a moment. We can’t control time but we DO have a measure of control in regards to time. What will we do with the time we’ve been given?

Our world is moving at a faster pace than ever before. We are faced with an increasing amount of distraction, the general hum-drum of noise that is always beckoning for our attention. We find ourselves saying Yes to commitments when we really should be saying No. The deadlines, the urgency of responsibilities, the never-ending to-do list seem to crowd out how we really desire to live. But, there is a way to push back against these pressures and to live with more intentionality.

It’s in the daily, weekly and monthly rhythms that we develop as foundational practices in our life. I’ve learned this practice called a “Rule of Life” which you can read a bit more about on from this post on year-end reflections. If you want to dive deeper into developing a “Rule of life”, check out Practicing the Way, a website devoted to spiritual formation that was started by John Mark Comer.

Once you have a Rule of Life, how will you implement it AND stay consistent with it? How will you self-evaluate your growth, make modifications to your plan, and allow yourself space for grace?

A tool that has helps me with organizing my time and accountability, I simply call Calender-ing. I’m a big fan of paper planners that have monthly, weekly and daily layouts to help me spend my time wisely AND even schedule in rest and Sabbath. I’ve used a paper planner to organize my days for more than a decade! For 2024, I chose a Plum Paper planner that I custom designed to fit my Rule of Life and prioritize my values in order to live intentionally. As we begin the year, I thought I’d share a bit about the way I designed my planner. Whether you love a paper planner or are thriving in a digital calendar app, I hope this will inspire you towards intentional living this year!

Big Rocks

I chose this particular layout from Plum Paper as it allowed me to rename several of the content blocks to align with my personal values. At the top of my planner daily pages, I wanted to emphasize three things that I call “Big Rocks.” They are key areas that I want to be guideposts in how I spend my time each week. They are the rocks that need to go into my life first.

1. Writing: I have a wide open box to capture what my writing plan will look like for the week. This open text box gives me the freedom to fill it with inspirational quotes, weekly writing or publishing tasks or specific goals to complete.
2. Gratitude: A smaller text box offers a space for me to capture events, moments, and people that I’m thankful for throughout the week. Gratitude has become a regular practice for me. I’ve learned how it rewires the brain to be able to connect with others and increases my ability to experience joy!
3. Spiritual Rhythms: This is a space for me to track how I’m staying committed to different spiritual practices. I wanted this as an editable text box so that I can prioritize various practices with monthly and seasonal changes. For example, I might start the year with a bible study I’m working through that lasts 8 weeks. In the spring, I can re-evaluate and shift to focus on fasting through the season of Lent. It’s not intended to be a “check off the to-do list” and pat myself on the back if I reach all 7 days. It serves as a visual reminder to observe how I’m living into those intentional practices.

Little Rocks

The daily sections of my planner are laid out with some of my “little rocks.” Little rocks are things that have everyday significance but also the flexibility to move around. They fill in the gaps around the big rocks.

1. To-Do: I love a good to-do list! It helps me get all the clutter out of my head and onto a visual space to figure out what needs to get done. I liked that this has only 3 spaces under the To-Do so that I will prioritize what needs to happen each day. Just three things. Every day.
2. Connect with: One thing on my heart this year is to be intentional with my relationships. By adding this little 3 line list, I can prayerfully ask God who He wants me to connect with each day during the week. My list might look like this: Send Kim a birthday card. Text Olivia to say thank you. Schedule a coffee date with Tara. It’s one small way that I can intentionally love the people around me with my words and actions.
3. Meals: I only grocery shop once a week. Which means I plan all of our meals for the week before I head to the grocery store. If you know my story, I lost 40 pounds between 2019-2020 and have kept it off! I learned how to feed my body well over the last 3+ years using Weight Watchers so I’m intentional with meal planning and maintaining my weight loss. Our family also values the times we can share a meal around the dinner table. It’s the place where our family of four typically connects about the day. It’s far from perfect but with teens who have entered the busy schedules of high school, we treasure family dinners!
4. Open spaces. The rest of the planner has open spaces for me to write in my appointments, social events, kids sports practices and games, church gatherings, etc. Saturday night to Sunday night, we set aside as time for Sabbath rest. That usually looks like Saturday dinner with people we love, house church on Sunday morning, and Sunday afternoon resting. Sabbath is about choosing life-giving practices that help us work from a place of rest.

One last thing that I use in my monthly and weekly calendar: Colored pens. Each family member has an assigned color that I use to write in each of their commitments. This helps me visually see what our family calendar looks like each week with a quick glance.

Your turn

Set aside time this week to reflect on what your Big and Little Rocks are for the coming year. You might use the questions that I referenced earlier from last years post to guide your reflection time.

What is God highlighting for you to focus on this coming year?

What will be your plan to live with intentionality?

Will you use a paper planner, a digital calendar, an app?