Sweet New Year, y’all. I want to share the top 5 things I’m doing for intentional living in 2024. I don’t know about you, but I am fully ready to dive in to the new year and see how my life transforms. My birthday was on December 29^th (shout out to my December Caps!), and it hit me how much my life has changed in 2023.

At first, I was indifferent to the new year approaching, but as I reflected, I realized how truly blessed I am. I’m taking that energy, full of gratitude and amazement, with me in 2024. I can only imagine how my life will continue to change over the next year. So, in honor of 2024 being my year of transformative growth, here are the top 5 things I’m doing to kickstart my intentional living journey.

Planning

How does the saying go? “If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.” We all like to think that we work best under pressure and that masterpieces develop after days, weeks, even months of procrastination. The truth is, we don’t, and it doesn’t. I am taking the time out to finally use my daily planner from The Happiness Planner. I’ve had the digital version for years and I could not get myself to use it.

Well, now that I have a full schedule of work and personal projects, the planner comes in handy. Especially since we need to schedule in time for friends and family. 2024 may be my year of hustle but I refuse to drift even further away from those I care about.

Wish List

I am writing down everything that I want, desire, and hope for; all the goals I want to meet, any brand collaborations, all the milestones I want to hit for work, all the experiences I want to have, the opportunities I want to come knocking, nothing is off limits. It’s all being written down. I’m going to take this a step further and make this into an intentional prayer list. (You can do the same if you’re religious, or adjust it to fit your needs and beliefs.)

Affirmations

I tried this for a bit in 2023 but I was wholly inconsistent. I think it was too long and I couldn’t be bothered to memorize it. This year, I’m going to shorten it to whatever I need to focus on and once I feel like I’ve mastered it, then I’ll move on to another affirmation. Hopefully, I’m not stuck chanting the same thing all year. (Where’s the progress in that?)

Budgeting

The dreaded word. It still leaves a sour taste in my mouth. This word is a sure-fire way to bring that nasty attitude roaring back to life. Unfortunately, it’s necessary. With student loans picking back up, savings goals not being met, and a large expense looming in the near future, I just have to get this under control. Now is the time.

On my birthday, I woke up and immediately went and paid a large bill. I felt so proud of myself all day. Two days later, I had buyer’s remorse (or whatever the equivalent would be). That never happens when I get a new bag! Yet, I’m sacrificing in 2024 so that I won’t have to in 2025 and beyond.