BB Ep 56: How to Be Intentional in Your Life and Business with Dave Ramsey

This week we’re going to talk about being intentional. Y’all, it’s easier said than done. So many people just go through life without doing things on purpose. What Happened When I Got Intentional I need to tell you about a time that I was not so intentional. When I graduated from high school, I very excitedly got out of the state of Tennessee where I had grown up and attended the University of Central Florida. I went for the great business school and the beautiful campus, but I didn’t really participate with the school side of things. Let’s just say, I loved the beach more than I did class. And my grades showed it. I wasn’t intentional with my time or my studying, and at the end of my first semester of my sophomore year, I had a 1.4 GPA. YIKES! Y’all, it wasn’t that I wasn’t smart and willing to work hard—I just didn’t focus. But here comes the good news. When I decided to transfer to the University of Tennessee—to spare my mother the out of state tuition and because I realized I wanted to return to Tennessee after college—something amazing happened! They accepted my credits but didn’t carry my GPA over from UCF. I got a clean slate. And I ran with it! I got really serious. I stayed late, I did extra credit, and I went the extra mile. At the end of my sophomore year, my first semester at UT, I got a 4.0. All because I was intentional. It’s so easy to just get by. It’s so easy to let life happen and just spend our time reacting instead of acting. I want us to do something different. I want us to be intentional and do things on purpose. Things will not happen for you in life; you have to make things happen. 5 Areas of Your Life to Be Intentional 1. Be Intentional With Your Marriage I read this a few weeks ago on Twitter: “If you want what you used to have, you have to do what you used to do.” What did you used to do in your marriage? It is so easy for our marriages to become businesses. You and your spouse did not fall in love over the cable bill, or kid’s schedules, or determining who was going to pick up the dry cleaning. Before the busyness of kids and errands and all the to-do lists, you and your spouse probably just had fun together. In my life, there are things that Matt and I used to love to do. We still do those things, because we schedule time to do them. We put it on the calendar. If you wait for those things to happen, they will never happen, because life will get in the way. What do you and your spouse love to do together? Those things don’t have to slip away. Life gets busy, but don’t let your marriage become an afterthought. Be intentional with your marriage and see how it changes things for you, your spouse and even your kids! Related: Ep. 49 — How to Get Your Husband on Board With Your Business 2. Be Intentional With Your Parenting In any area of our lives, it’s easy to be reactive instead of proactive, but this seems particularly tempting with kids. Admittedly, I have two kids and they are fairly young, and I’m learning with many of you. But I’ve noticed that we, as moms, spend a lot of time reacting. We react to school and sport schedules. We react to what other parents are doing. We react to handling their behavior. We react to dealing with tough situations. Trust me, I know parenting is hard. But we’re going to spend the energy regardless, so we might as well spend it on the front end, shaping our kids proactively, rather than always reacting to whatever life throws at us. Being intentional with what you want your kids to know, feel, do and experience doesn’t have to look like holding yourself to an impossible standard of perfection. Just do things on purpose; it’s amazing how our kids will get it. Related: Ep. 8 — How to Deal with Mom Guilt 3. Be Intentional With Your Business You can’t float by in your business and wonder why you didn’t reach your goals. Success won’t happen if you don’t do things on purpose. If you don’t start with the end in mind, you’ll cross someone else’s finish line. In business, like all areas of your life, being intentional means setting goals. It means putting things on paper on purpose. How much money do you want to make? How much do you want to grow your email list? How many new clients do you want to gain? How much do you want to grow your social media platform? Decide what you want and what you need to do to get there! Start with the end in mind and then start breaking it down into small, tangible actions to get there. Be intentional in your business and you will build a business you love. Related: Ep. 38 — Hitting Big Goals By Winning Small 4. Be Intentional With Your Body You get one body. One. That’s it. Take care of your body by working it out, drinking water, and eating things that are nutritious and give you energy. It’s about finding balance and seeking to be healthy. Being intentional and doing things on purpose with your body also means loving it. Not loving it because it’s perfect and you look like a supermodel. No, it’s loving and celebrating your body for the things it does for you. For the fact that it’s already beautiful, strong and amazing! You get a choice. You can love your body or you can constantly think about what’s wrong with it. You can treat it well or you can neglect it. You get one body. Love it on purpose. Related: Ep. 47 — Mom Entrepreneurs: Finding Success in Business and Motherhood 5. Be Intentional With Your Time The bad news is that being intentional in all of the above areas take time—which is something I’d be willing to bet you already don’t feel like you have a lot of. But the good news is that you have more time than you think. You can’t do everything, but you can do the most important things. Maybe you won’t get to be a part of every club and organization or take on every project that sounds fun. But for me, if I already have an amazing marriage, rock star kids, a thriving business, and a strong body, then I’m fine to say no to some other things. I don’t want to do everything; I just want to be awesome at a few really important things. Stephen Covey says, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” These are my main things. Yours might be different, and that’s okay. Figure out what’s most important to you and be intentional with those things. Related: Ep. 34 — Excuses That Steal Your Time Being Intentional in Your Business with Dave Ramsey Dave Ramsey is a New York Times best-selling author, the host of The Dave Ramsey Show, and the CEO of Ramsey Solutions. Over the last few decades, Dave Ramsey has been incredibly generous in sharing his story to help millions of people find hope. He helps people take control of their personal finances, change their family tree, become better leaders, build their businesses and so much more. And, as if all that wasn’t enough, Dave is also my leader and my friend. When I think of someone who is a master at how to be intentional, Dave Ramsey is one of the first people that comes to mind. Dave truly uses his impressively growing platform of over 15 million daily listeners to serve people. He pays attention to where people are hurting and meets them where they are. Dave is present, intentional, and firm in his beliefs, and he never stops learning. Dave has been one of the driving forces behind the Business Boutique brand from day one, and I am so excited to have him return to the Business Boutique 3-Day Event stage this November! He will be speaking about one of the biggest pain points that business owners have: money! In this episode, Dave Ramsey shares his wisdom on how to be intentional in your life. You’ll learn: The mistakes and misunderstandings around what it means to be intentional Areas to focus on and practical steps to take to start seeing results How small-business owners can be intentional in with money Related: How to Have More Time Make an Intentional Decision to Build Your Business Debt-Free I want to take a quick second to talk about an area of your business that you might not be approaching with intentionality: finances. It’s so tempting to build your business by taking out debt. Here is what many people don’t see: business debt is YOUR debt. Someone has to pay the bills at the end of the day, and that person is you, not “the business.” (You ARE the business!) Instead of trying to accelerate your business by using debt, I want to encourage you to grow slow. Start with what you have and take your time to use your profits from the business to reinvest in the business. I’ll bet you’ll find that you don’t need half of what you think you do. Don’t handcuff yourself to those payments. Nothing will take the joy out of your business like debt. There are so many people who have been in your shoes and have built thriving business without taking out debt. You’ve got this! Don’t forget that I love hearing from you! Give me a call on my new toll-free line at 844.944.1074. You might hear your question on a future episode! Related: Ep. 24 — Money Pitfalls to Avoid in Your Business 1:21 Five Areas of Your Life to Be Intentional 22:10 How to Be Intentional in Your Business with Dave Ramsey 59:50 #AskChristyWright 67:19 Encouragement: Build Your Business Debt-Free Get Christy's Goal Setting Tool by filling out the form here! Sign up for the Business Boutique Academy waitlist at BusinessBoutique.com/Academy. To save $10 on any Business Boutique Nashville ticket, use the code BBWRIGHT. If you have a success story you would like to share with the Business Boutique community, email me at [email protected]. New podcast episodes are available every other week.