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How to Revisit, Reclaim and Redefine Your ONE Word

Learn how to Revisit, Reclaim, and possibly Redefine one of the most important words in your vocabulary.

At the beginning of each year many of us choose one word to represent our intention for the year.  I heard from many of you and your words were: Faith, Listen, Positive, Less, Love, Unite, Focus, Create, Slow, Discovery, Intentional-Joy, Grace, Quiet, Heal.

An important part about choosing a single word to focus on throughout the year is to keep it at the forefront of our thoughts so we are intentional about bringing about the transformation we hope for.

Whether you’ve had your WORD on your mind everyday or you haven’t really thought much about it for the last several weeks or months, today’s video is for you.  I discuss the 3 R process: Revisit, Reclaim, Redefine.

I’d love to hear from you.  Which of the Rs symbolized where you are? Let me know in the comments below.

Join me for Your Intentional Life Facebook Live series every Wednesday morning.

As always, I appreciate you spending time with me here today!

Please share if you have friends, family, and co-workers that could benefit from the power of setting an intentional word in their life.

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3 Secrets to Managing Your Expectations

What if I told you that you could cut back on frustration, disappointment, and preserve your relationships, all in 3 simple steps?

OK, that may have sounded a bit like an infomercial!  JUST 3 SIMPLE STEPS for $19.99!! Order now while supplies last!! (Best if read in your best late-night infomercial voice.)

But seriously…who wants to feel these negative emotions and threaten our most precious relationships?

The key is to managing your expectations.

Think about all the life events in which we either don’t know what to expect or we have a very clear expectation, but for one reason or another, that expectation is dismantled when #LIFEHAPPENS.

What sort of expectations do you have around the circumstances of your life?  There’s no one way to handle a newly emptied nest, a divorce, a scary diagnosis, a rebellious child, a new job, losing a job, a difficult relationship, or any other life-transition, but you can sure hedge your bets for a smoother experience if you learn to manage your expectations.

These 3 steps will help…

I’d love to hear from you.  In the comments below, tell me which of these steps is the most difficult for you.  The 2nd and 3rd have been my main stumbling blocks, but you know what? Just reminding ourselves of steps like these are how we get back on track.

As always, I appreciate you spending time with me here today.

Here’s to successfully managing our expectations in an effort to live our best lives!

Jill xx

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How To Maximize Your Most Valuable Resource: Time

Time management

The #1 reason people fail to live with intention is the lack of, or mismanagement of time.  Don’t let this be part of your story.

Today, I share a simple, yet very powerful exercise in understanding where/how you spend your time, where/how you’re wasting time, and how you can create your ideal schedule to live a life of intention.

Exercise from video:

What you’ll need:

Paper and pencil.
Your current calendar.

On a blank piece of paper, write the hours of the day along one side of the sheet and the days of the week across the other.  Depending on your typical schedule, you may write the hours down in one hour, 30 minute, or 15 minute chunks.  Fill in the time slots with the activities, appointments and responsibilities that account for the time in your day.  NOTE: Don’t forget the scrolling through Facebook/Instagram/Pinterest time (no judgment, let’s just make sure you are giving a true representation of where you spend your time.)

Next, you’re going to circle, star, box and X the items on your schedule.

  • Circle all items on your schedule that are non-negotiables based on your values, your season in life, or your survival.  A non-negotiable may be getting up at the crack of dawn to go to work 5 days per week, or packing your kids school lunches, or driving your spouse or elderly parent to their doctor’s appointments.  It may also be exercise or time with your favorite person. 
  • Put a STAR next to all the things in your schedule that bring you joy or fulfillment.  Making breakfast for your loved ones, working out, volunteering, painting, singing in choir, etc.
  • Put a BOX next to all the thing that are important, but you can either give the task to someone else or move it to a later date.
  • Put an X next to the things on your schedule that are time and life suckers!  These are the things you are going to remove, minimize, and/or schedule more tightly in your schedule.

Don’t rush this process.  Take your time so you are sure to include everything that should be on the schedule.  You want to be as realistic as possible.

On another sheet, write down your ideal schedule that supports and aligns with your values and intentions for your life.  This is where you will remove or minimize items that you marked with an X, delegate or move those you marked with a BOX, possibly devote more time to the items you placed a STAR next to, and last but not least, see where you have new chunks of time available to intentionally fill with absolutely nothing and with things that support a healthy, balanced life.    

When you’re done (today or in the next couple days) I’d love to hear how this exercise worked for you.  Did you spot some obnoxious time sucks in your schedule?  Did you realize how little time you were devoting to VERY important things?  Did you feel a sense of relief when you placed an X next to one of the items on your calendar, signifying and making a decision to rid that from your life?  I would love to hear from you.  Let me know in the comments or by emailing me at Jill@JillGottenstrater.com.

Here’s to creating a schedule that honors you and lends itself to an intentional, fulfilling and impactful life!

Jill xx

Click here to join me on Wednesday mornings for my Facebook LIVE video series.

In case you missed it…Click here to read my post on understanding your core values and living them out in real life.

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How Your Core Values Look In Real Life

How intentional living holds hands with core values…

Join me this week on the “Your Intentional Life” video series as we dig even deeper into core values and how they show up in real life situations.  Last week we began to uncover the concept and importance of core values, but this week, we go deep.  I even created a guide/workbook for you!

We will cover:

  • Definition of core values.
  • Why understanding and being able to articulate your core values is so important.
  • How your core values affect all areas of your life, including your personal-life, work-life, family-life, and love-life.
  • And to package it all up with a bow, I created a great guide/workbook for you to download to walk you through the process of really understanding what your core values are and how they inform your life.  This is where the rubber hits the road, friends!  Download this free guide,  complete the simple exercises to help you clarify and declare your values and see how they show up in your day-to-day life.  Do this…you will thank yourself.  : )

Enter your name and email below to receive your free core values guide!




I hope the guide/worksheets help you, like they did for me.  I would love to hear from you.  Did you have an a-ha moment?  Did you discover something about yourself that surprised you?  Maybe you’re finding it hard to narrow it down.  No question or comment is silly…your questions and comments are what help me to understand what sort of information I can provide in the future.

Much love, friends!

Jill xx

P.S. If you have friends, family or co-workers who would benefit from digging deeper into understanding their core values and how they could live more intentionally with this knowledge, share this post.  Sharing is caring. : )

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Core Values: How to Understand and Live Them Out

Understanding and Living Out Your Core Values

Our first week of the “Your Intentional Life” video series is on the books and we talked all about core values and how foundational they are to intentionally living!  If you didn’t catch it on Facebook LIVE earlier this week, I’ve got the video here for you now.

This week we talked about:

  • What Intentional Living and Core Values have to do with one another.
  • The importance of understanding, articulating, and living out our core values.
  • The three categories of people that may find themselves living outside their values–I wonder if you see yourself in one?
  • A simple exercise to figure out what your core values are.

Join me on the video now…

I hope you’ll take a few minutes today to work on your list and define your top 3-5 core values.

Remember to think about these two areas when you’re putting your list together:

  • What words describe what is most important to you?
  • What characteristics define who you want to be?

I mentioned brain-dumping as a resource for you to figure out your core values…here’s the link for that post.

What are your core values?  Do you struggle with living out those values?  If so, how?  Comment or email me…I’d love to hear from you!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend, friends!

Much love,

Jill xx

I hope to see you this coming Wednesday morning as the “Your Intentional Life” video series continues.  Click here to “like” my blog’s Facebook page, so you’ll be notified when I go LIVE each week.

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Intentional Living Series on Facebook LIVE Begins Soon!

Inspiration for intentional living…

I’m just back from a week at the beach and it proved to be the perfect time to think about all the topics I will be discussing in my Intentional Living Facebook LIVE series that starts this coming Wednesday morning.

I don’t know about you, but when I’m on vacation, it’s hard to stick to a normal routine.  I enjoy being more flexible with my schedule, but there’s at least one routine I maintain: “intentional walks” (and since I’m on vacay, the walks are long).  These walks do not include thinking of all the things I need to get done that day, or achieving a certain number of miles.  These walks are a semi-unlimited pocket of time in which I don’t have to get back to anything. It’s a time dedicated to quiet, dreaming, wonder, and gratitude.


Photo: My faithful walking companion.

Four years ago to the week, I was walking on the same beach and I felt a very strong call to begin writing a blog.  I wrote one post that week, but never shared it.  Fear, and that crazy imposter syndrome, I mentioned a few weeks back, crept in and took over.

It took me another 15 months to get the guts up to start the blog you read today, and I can tell you that learning about, and practicing intentional living has been key through it all.

But behind the blog is a life changed due to the small, daily steps of attempting to live as intentionally as I can.  The blog is my way of sharing with others: tools, techniques, and inspiration, so that someone — like you — may read or hear something that guides them toward living their life with more intention, meaning, and joy.

I hope you’ll join me over the next few months for the Your Intentional Life series.  Click here to “like” my blog’s Facebook page, so you’ll be notified when I go LIVE each week.

The series will run from July – September, 2017 and I’ll be covering things like:

  • Defining core values
  • Clarifying life-direction
  • Creating confidence
  • Finding peace through mindfulness
  • Creating systems to limit overwhelm
  • And lots more….

For those of you who aren’t on East Coast time, don’t worry, the replay will be available when you rise and shine.

Can’t wait to see y’all on Wednesday!

Jill xx

 

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5 Steps to Getting The Most Out of Your Word for The Year

We’re a couple months into the new year now and many of us have chosen a single WORD as a declaration for a specific intention and purpose in our lives.  I’ve heard from some of you and your words are: listen, positive, faith, less, love, unite, focus, create, slow.  My word is clarity.  (NOTE: My original word I chose on January 1 was “focus” but three weeks in, I changed it to “clarity”.  I explain the stress my first word was causing me here.

While we may have chosen a word, as the days and weeks forge on, we forget about the word, and all the intention and purpose behind it.

If you do it right, choosing and purposefully living out your word for the year will be life-changing.  Seriously.  Life-changing.

Today, I’m sharing 5 simple steps to help make that happen for you…

Recap from our video:

5 Steps to Success From Your Word for the Year

  • Place your word in prominent places where you will see it often.
    — Type out your word in a huge font, print out and hang in your office, your bathroom, on your fridge, in your day-planner, in your car, etc.
    — Write your word on a sticky note and post around.
    — Make yourself a bookmark with your word on it.
    — If you’re feeling really crafty, paint your word (free-hand or with stencils) on a canvas or on a piece of wood and display in your home.
    — Create a tile mosaic for your garden.  (Wouldn’t it be neat to make a small mosaic each year with your word as a stepping stones in your garden?!)
  • Get intimate with your word by doing a simple word-study.  Google “definition of (your word)”.  Read the definitions and write out the meaning in your own words.  Look at the synonyms.  Look at the antonyms.  Look at the word origin.  This may sound like a lot of work, but it will take you less than 2 minutes if you Google it.  My word for the year is Clarity.  Here is what came up with my Google search:
  • Talk about your word.  Tell your friends, co-workers, and family what your word is.  This gives you a bit of accountability, but also helps others understand your intention for the year, so they can support you in it.
  • Ask others about their words.  This takes the accountability to a new level.  When everyone around you has their own word, it often becomes a point of discussion.  (Share this post with your friends, family, and co-workers, so they can get on the bandwagon, too!)
  • Journal about your word.  (You didn’t think we’d get through this post without me suggesting journaling, did you?) As you’re journaling, check in with yourself as to how your word is showing up or not showing up in your daily life.

I’d love to hear from you!  Leave your answer to these two questions in the comment section below:

  1. What is your word for the year?  Was that your original word, or did you end up changing it, like I did?
  2. How will you display your word to keep it top of mind? Are you a post-it note type, or will you be painting your word on canvas for display?

Here’s to living a life with intention and purpose!

Jill xx

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Why You Might Want to Change Your Word for The Year

When it’s OK to change your mind…

Did you choose a “word for the year“?

If you did, and you’re happy with your word, carry on–but don’t leave without first listening to this video. Seriously, you may be where I was a few weeks into selecting my word and not realizing what I came to realize.

If you haven’t chosen a word yet, you really should consider doing it today.  Listen to this video first because what I’m sharing with you here will help in the event that you decide to change that word, down the road, like I did.

Bottom line, friends…your “word for the year” is YOUR word.  You can change it if you want to.  I repeat, “It’s YOUR word.”  Don’t feel that you must soldier on with your word and push on through the dislike or unsettled feelings that word is bringing you.  I changed mine, from one that I thought was perfect at the time of choosing, but later proved to bring me a bunch of stress.  And guess what?  I am LOVING the new word I settled on.

Just remember, the purpose of choosing YOUR word for the year, is to set an intention for what you’d like to see more of in your life.

I would love to hear about the word you selected this year?  Did you change your word, or stick with your initial word?  This is the second year I’ve changed my word after declaring another.  Hmmmm….note-to-self…select a word in November, and by the time January comes around, the possible word change may come about, so that the new year begins with the word that I’m settled on.

Much love, friends,

Jill xx

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Your Daily Dose of Intentional Living – Week 3 Wrap Up

Want to live a more fulfilling and intentional life?  Sometimes we just need some reminders, fresh inspiration, and someone who’s been there and desires the same thing.

This is my 3rd week of broadcasting Your Daily Dose of Intentional Living LIVE this month and I’ve compiled all the videos right here in one place for you.  My goal is to provide helpful and inspirational content and provide simple steps to be more intentional with our time and efforts.

MONDAY MOTIVATION video:
Ever feel like you’re completed overwhelmed, OVER IT, or just ready to have a little less stress in your life?  I share two simple exercises that will help you to create a clean slate every day.  I’d love to hear how these work for you!

TUESDAY TIP video:

In this episode, I discuss ways to overcome holiday stress and drama that inevitably happens each year, and also share some good tips to overcome the winter blues.

Mentioned in this video:
Click here to find the fun and free printable conversation starters.  I’d love to hear back from you how smooth and fun your holiday table conversations go after using these!

WEDNESDAY’S WORD video:

Wednesday word was DISCIPLINE.  If you’re lacking discipline in an area of your life that you really want to change, this is the video for you!  I share five steps that will help you achieve the discipline you need to make the progress you want.

THROWBACK THURSDAY video:

Today were throwing back to the creator of the model T — Henry Ford. Let’s see what Henry can teach us about creating a growth mindset.

Mentioned in this video:
Mindset by Carol Dweck

FRIENDSHIP FRIDAY video:

Learn a super effective way to be a better friend.

Mentioned in this video:
The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman
My article from a few years ago on The 5 Love Languages.

Friends, if you know of someone who might find value in what I’ve shared in these videos, don’t be shy–share away!

Did you miss the wrap-up video posts from previous weeks?
Click here to watch week 1 videos.
Click here to watch week 2 videos.

Here’s to being kind human beings.

Much love,

Jill xx

Disclosure: Some of the links (for the books on Amazon) in this post are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

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Facebook LIVE Week 2 Wrap-Up

Here’s a wrap-up from this week’s Facebook LIVE series: Your Daily Dose of Intentional Living.  If you weren’t able to catch my broadcasts live or later, here they are!

Click here to download your Intention Journal worksheet.  Use this journal to make notes and reminders of helpful ways to pracitce intention in your life.

Monday Motivation

See how taking advice from your “objective self” can be some of the best advice you receive.  Watch and let me know if you’ve ever used this technique.

Tuesday Tip

For this week’s tip, I share a time management tip that, should you implement, will most likely save you at least an hour or even two per day.  No kidding!

Wednesday Word

Today’s word is Community.  Now, more than ever, our communities, our nation need more involvement than before.  I’ve posed three questions for us all to consider in an effort to transform division into action in our communities.  Watch and let me know your thoughts.

Throwback Thursday

We’re stepping up to bat for some wisdom from the one and only, Yogi Berra.  One of Yogi’s famous quotes has taught me a thing or two about the importance of observing and watching.  Watch this video and see if the Yogi-ism mentioned resonates with you, too.

Friendship Friday

Talking about a way to categorize relationships in order to keep a good life-balance, maintain healthy relationships, and rid yourself of the toxic people in your life.  Warning: Don’t confuse this exercise with elf on the shelf!

Friends, if you know of someone who might find value in what I’ve shared in these videos, don’t be shy–share away!

Did you miss the wrap-up from last week?  Click here to watch those videos.

Here’s to being kind human beings.

Much love,

Jill xx

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