Can we really live our lives ‘intentionally’?

The limits of forward planning (and why I do it anyway).

A quick bit of housekeeping: our next Guided Journaling workshop is coming up this Saturday at 12pm. Fancy joining? Head to the event page for more details and to RSVP.

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I began this year with a plan. An elaborate, handwritten one, as it happens – that’s what spending the New Year period at a yoga retreat will do to you – with goals around my career, relationships and wellbeing. Oh, the hopefulness of yore, and a seven-day digital detox.

We’re currently six months into 2025. If you’d like me to report back objectively, I’d say that some goals have already worked out wonderfully. Others… well, six months to go lads, I’m working on it.

On the other hand, if my inner critic were to seize the mic, it would be a different story. I’d fixate on the goals that haven’t worked out (yet! My inner hope cries out in retaliation). I might deem myself a failure, or berate myself for the foolishness, the blind arrogance, the hubris of having made a plan in the first place. Because to make a plan is to, quite literally, set yourself up for failure.

Or else, I might call myself out for the perpetual crime of not living intentionally enough. Of not carpe-ing the diem out of my allocated 24 hours. Of getting caught up in other things, and losing sight of the masterplan.

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What actually is intentional living?

Intentional living is a phrase that entered the zeitgeist a couple of years ago, and now suddenly it’s everywhere: wellness retreats, therapy blogs; life coaches’ extended job descriptions, even urban planning. This April, it was crystallised into our vernacular by the Duchess of Sussex. In a manifesto for her lifestyle brand, As Ever, she announced: ‘The collection is infused with joy, love, and a touch of whimsy. Thoughtfully curated, As Ever celebrates intentional living.’

Intentional living, according to Psych Daily, is defined as: ‘Living with intention, and based on your core beliefs’. And it’s not without its limitations.

Because, in a world of manifesting and mood boards; apps that promise everything from customised ramen to the match of your dreams; accountability buddies; and, yes, buzzwords and phrases like alignment, intentional living and conscious choices, there’s a danger of feeling like you’re a failure for your life not going exactly how you planned it.

You’re just not living intentionally enough.

Get your shit together.

MAKE A PLAN.

Intentional living has become a big, fat Should. Which is why it might surprise you to learn that, in spite of that, I’m with Meghan Markle on this one.

In defence of living intentionally