Latest / The Confident Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson / The Intentional Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson
Transcript
- 0:38Jennifer Johnson: Today, we're exploring one of the most transformative mindsets you can develop as an entrepreneur: living and working with complete intentionality.
- 0:46Jennifer Johnson: I want to start with a moment that completely changed how I approached both business and life.
- 0:51Jennifer Johnson: I was sitting in my office one evening, exhausted after another pack day, looking at my calendar for the next week.
- 0:57Jennifer Johnson: It was completely full of meetings and calls and events and commitments.
- 1:01Jennifer Johnson: But as I looked at each item, I realized that I couldn't remember why I had said yes to most of them.
- 1:09Jennifer Johnson: They weren't aligned with my goals.
- 1:10Jennifer Johnson: They weren't recognizing or energizing me, meaning they weren't recognizing my talents, and they weren't energizing me.
- 1:18Jennifer Johnson: They weren't moving my business forward in meaningful ways.
- 1:21Jennifer Johnson: I had somehow created a life where I was incredibly busy, but not particularly purposeful.
- 1:27Jennifer Johnson: I was reactive rather than proactive, responding to whatever came up instead of choosing my path deliberately.
- 1:33Jennifer Johnson: I was letting my calendar inbox and other people's priorities dictate how I spent my life and my time, which meant I was letting them dictate the direction of my life.
- 1:46Jennifer Johnson: That's when I realized the difference between living accidentally and living intentionally.
- 1:51Jennifer Johnson: Most people, including entrepreneurs, drift through their days making decisions based on immediate pressures and external expectations, or simply what feels the easiest at the moment.
- 2:03Jennifer Johnson: But the most successful and fulfilled people that I know live differently.
- 2:08Jennifer Johnson: They make choices deliberately, they align their actions with their values, and they say yes and no based on clear criteria rather than impulse or obligation.
- 2:20Jennifer Johnson: Today, let's have a conversation about what it means to live and work with intentionality, why this mindset is crucial for success and how to develop the discipline to make choices that align with your deeper purpose rather than just responding to whatever demands your attention.
- 2:39Jennifer Johnson: Intentionality isn't just about having plans or goals.
- 2:42Jennifer Johnson: You can have detailed plans that aren't actually intentional if the plan isn't aligned with your deeper values and purposes.
- 2:50Jennifer Johnson: Intentionality is about ensuring that your choices, whether they're planned or they're spontaneous, flow from a clear understanding of what actually matters to you.
- 3:03Jennifer Johnson: The distinction is crucial for entrepreneurs because business involves so much uncertainty and change.
- 3:09Jennifer Johnson: Intentional entrepreneurs don't try to control their environment.
- 3:12Jennifer Johnson: They focus on making choices that align with their values and objectives, regardless of what their environment presents.
- 3:21Jennifer Johnson: Some people avoid intentional living because they think that it means being rigid or not flexible.
- 3:26Jennifer Johnson: But in reality, it usually creates more flexibility because you have clear criteria for making quick decisions.
- 3:34Jennifer Johnson: When you know what matters most to you, you can adapt to the changing circumstances while staying true to your purpose.
- 3:42Jennifer Johnson: At its foundation, intentionality requires awareness, awareness of your values, your goals, and your patterns, and your choices.
- 3:51Jennifer Johnson: Many people live in autopilot, making decisions based on habit or emotion, or perhaps external pressures, which really makes you wonder about who you're serving and making sure that you're serving the larger purpose.
- 4:09Jennifer Johnson: When your actions aren't aligned with your values and purposes, everything takes more energy.
- 4:14Jennifer Johnson: So you have that energy drain that comes from not being aligned.
- 4:18Jennifer Johnson: You're always fighting internal resistance, you're justifying decisions.
- 4:23Jennifer Johnson: I've actually had this happen to myself, and I realized that I took on projects that really didn't align with anything that felt like it was important to me.
- 4:33Jennifer Johnson: The work felt forced rather than flowing.
- 4:37Jennifer Johnson: So there is an opportunity cost of saying yes to everything, and that's unintentional living.
- 4:42Jennifer Johnson: That means saying yes to too many things, which means saying no to the things that really matter and that are going to move the needle in your business.
- 4:51Jennifer Johnson: Every commitment that you make that isn't aligned with your priorities takes time and energy away from the commitments that are actually aligned.
- 5:01Jennifer Johnson: When you're pursuing your goals that aren't actually yours, goals that are based on external expectations, what other people think you should do, the pursuit itself becomes stressful, even when you're successful.
- 5:15Jennifer Johnson: You may achieve what you set out to achieve, but the feeling of empty or feeling dissatisfied because the achievement isn't connected to who you really are.
- 5:26Jennifer Johnson: Perhaps most painfully, unintentional living often leads to regret.
- 5:30Jennifer Johnson: Not just the regret about specific choices, but regrets about time that was wasted on things that didn't matter.
- 5:37Jennifer Johnson: The feeling that years have passed without really making progress about what you totally cared about.
- 5:44Jennifer Johnson: That's when you need to really dig deep and clarify what your core values are.
- 5:48Jennifer Johnson: Intentional living is impossible without clarity about what you actually value.
- 5:53Jennifer Johnson: Not what you think you should value, not what others expect you to value, but what you genuinely care about.
- 6:02Jennifer Johnson: When you strip away everything, what are the things that you actually care about?
- 6:08Jennifer Johnson: I recommend writing out your values and testing them against your actual choices.
- 6:13Jennifer Johnson: If you say you value family and family time, but consistently work late, there's either a misalignment or you lack clarity about what you actually value most.
- 6:26Jennifer Johnson: Beyond values, intentional living requires a vision of where you're headed and where you're trying to create.
- 6:32Jennifer Johnson: It doesn't have to be a detailed five-year plan or 10-year plan, but it does need to be clear so that you can evaluate whether specific things will move you towards or away from that vision.
- 6:44Jennifer Johnson: Intentional people have criteria for making decisions rather than just reacting to each choice as it comes up.
- 6:51Jennifer Johnson: The criteria flow comes from your values and your vision, but they're specific enough to provide that practical guidance.
- 6:59Jennifer Johnson: And then developing that pause practice.
- 7:02Jennifer Johnson: Intentionality requires developing a habit of pausing.
- 7:05Jennifer Johnson: And I'm calling it pink space, where you can just sit in it before making a decision that because that pause really creates that space that you need to really think about what it is being that's being asked of you rather than making it an impulse decision.
- 7:23Jennifer Johnson: And instead of building a business that is just there to make money and achieve success, intentional entrepreneurs build businesses that align with values that they have and that they hold near and dear and that contribute to the larger life vision that they have.
- 7:38Jennifer Johnson: It doesn't mean that they're ignoring being profitable, but it does mean that they're ensuring that how they make money is consistent with who they actually want to be.
- 7:49Jennifer Johnson: And then rather than taking every client or customer who comes your way, intentional entrepreneurs develop a criteria for the people that they actually want to work with.
- 7:58Jennifer Johnson: They might include considering whether the client's values align with theirs, or if their work energizes or the person energizes or drains them.
- 8:09Jennifer Johnson: And then you reach a point where you strategically just have to say no.
- 8:13Jennifer Johnson: Because remember, if you say no to something, that means that you're saying yes to something else.
- 8:21Jennifer Johnson: Instead of just managing your time, intentional people manage their energy, which is a really important component.
- 8:27Jennifer Johnson: By understanding when they're most creative or focused or energetic, they align their most important work during that time.
- 11:01Jennifer Johnson: For me, it's very early in the morning, and that's important to me.
- 11:05Jennifer Johnson: That's the time that I am highly focused.
- 11:08Jennifer Johnson: And that's when I block out the time from my schedule to work on my business.
- 11:13Jennifer Johnson: I am very productive between the hours of 5 a.m.
- 11:17Jennifer Johnson: and 7 a.m.
- 11:18Jennifer Johnson: That's always been the case with me.
- 11:20Jennifer Johnson: And because of that, I also set clear boundaries.
- 11:24Jennifer Johnson: And a lot of people think that setting boundaries is being difficult or uncooperative, but no, you are protecting your ability to do your best work and live according to your values.
- 11:35Jennifer Johnson: That includes the boundaries around communication and work hours because at the end of the day, it's protecting your energy too.
- 11:44Jennifer Johnson: And then there is the big question of yes, digital.
- 11:49Jennifer Johnson: Because we're always connected, we always have our phones, we wake up in the morning with our phones, we go to bed with our phones.
- 11:56Jennifer Johnson: Everything is about being always plugged in.
- 12:01Jennifer Johnson: But if we're aware and we're intentional and use social media in little doses, and we create technology-free spaces, that helps us think deeper, connect deeper, and it helps us network with people, which is hard to do when you're constantly on the phone.
- 12:23Jennifer Johnson: And there's one thing of networking digitally and another networking in person.
- 12:27Jennifer Johnson: And in-person is always the one that is certainly favored because you are meeting someone face to face.
- 12:34Jennifer Johnson: And then when you're thinking of building those relationships and working on your networking, intentional people are really strategic about where they invest their relationship building energy.
- 12:47Jennifer Johnson: They prioritize relationships that are mutually beneficial and aligned with their values, where they can see their long-term vision rather than just trying to maintain a superficial kind of connection with everybody that we meet.
- 13:01Jennifer Johnson: So, how do you approach learning and growth?
- 13:05Jennifer Johnson: How do you approach that learning and grow significantly the impacts to your long-term success?
- 13:12Jennifer Johnson: So there's several ways there's purpose-driven learning.
- 13:15Jennifer Johnson: Instead of learning things randomly, be intentional with the classes or the courses that you take.
- 13:20Jennifer Johnson: Intentional habit formation.
- 13:22Jennifer Johnson: Rather than trying to change everything all at once, adopt specific habits at specific times because it's going to help you figure out what's working and what is actually not working.
- 13:34Jennifer Johnson: And then do a regular life review.
- 13:36Jennifer Johnson: Sit down and go: are the choices that I'm making aligning with my business?
- 13:40Jennifer Johnson: Are they aligning with who I am as a person?
- 13:43Jennifer Johnson: And then you can make adjustments as needed.
- 13:47Jennifer Johnson: Then we come to the part where we need to overcome obstacles.
- 13:51Jennifer Johnson: And I say we need to because there are obstacles in everyday living.
- 13:58Jennifer Johnson: We see them all day long and we're always putting out fire.
- 14:01Jennifer Johnson: So there's the urgency trap.
- 14:03Jennifer Johnson: Oh my gosh, this needs to get done right now.
- 14:05Jennifer Johnson: That really makes it hard to live intentionally.
- 14:08Jennifer Johnson: But the key there is to develop systems and habits that protect that time and energy so that when urgent things come up, you can deal with them.
- 14:18Jennifer Johnson: Then you have, of course, the social and the external pressure from people on the outside.
- 14:24Jennifer Johnson: But I know that can make your decisions sometimes hard, but that is where you sit with all of your core values.
- 14:33Jennifer Johnson: If you know what you stand for, it's going to be much easier to say yes or to say no.
- 14:39Jennifer Johnson: And then, of course, too much information can give you analysis paralysis.
- 14:45Jennifer Johnson: Some people use the pursuit of perfect intentionality as an excuse for not taking action at all.
- 14:52Jennifer Johnson: And they spend so much time analyzing their choices that they don't actually make a choice at all.
- 15:00Jennifer Johnson: I often get asked when we're talking about this subject, what is there a benefit?
- 15:08Jennifer Johnson: What is the benefit?
- 15:09Jennifer Johnson: Or is it kind of like habit stacking where you compound the benefits of intentional living?
- 15:17Jennifer Johnson: And I say yes.
- 15:19Jennifer Johnson: There are compound benefits to intentional living.
- 15:22Jennifer Johnson: There's you're happier, you make decisions quicker, you have stronger relationships because you're being intentional.
- 15:31Jennifer Johnson: Because you're being intentional, you have more clarity and focus around your business.
- 15:36Jennifer Johnson: And what that all leads to is reduced stress, reduced regret.
- 15:40Jennifer Johnson: There's so many different positive things that come from living intentionally.
- 15:46Jennifer Johnson: And I'm going to share with you a few tools that you can put in your toolbox to help you live more intentionally.
- 15:55Jennifer Johnson: So you can do a daily intention setting period where each day you set an intention for how you want to show up.
- 16:02Jennifer Johnson: And maybe you do this maybe at the beginning of the week and you're like, you know what, this is how I want to show up for the week.
- 16:08Jennifer Johnson: And you align yourself and spend that week reviewing your commitments and you know, put it on your mirror, put it on your phone somewhere, maybe set an alarm so that every day you're thinking about it.
- 16:21Jennifer Johnson: Then you can do a values check-in before making commitments or decisions.
- 16:26Jennifer Johnson: Ask yourself, hey, self, does this align with how I feel?
- 16:31Jennifer Johnson: And then energy audit.
- 16:33Jennifer Johnson: Do a periodic energy audit to see the choices that I'm making.
- 16:38Jennifer Johnson: Are they aligning with me?
- 16:40Jennifer Johnson: Are they draining my energy or are they filling me up?
- 16:44Jennifer Johnson: So we're going to develop a really quick blueprint for you for intentional living.
- 16:52Jennifer Johnson: So your perfect, your personal mission statement, developing a clear and concise statement of what you're trying to accomplish with your life and your work.
- 17:00Jennifer Johnson: That becomes a filter in which you filter everything else through.
- 17:05Jennifer Johnson: Then you come up with your non-negotiables list.
- 17:08Jennifer Johnson: Identify the things that are absolutely essential to your well-being and values.
- 17:12Jennifer Johnson: These things you're not going to compromise on, regardless of what happens.
- 17:17Jennifer Johnson: Your energy investment strategy.
- 17:19Jennifer Johnson: Be very specific about where you want to invest your energy.
- 17:24Jennifer Johnson: Which relationships and projects and learning opportunities and experiences.
- 17:29Jennifer Johnson: Treat the energy that you have or that you're wanting to have as a precious research, recious resource.
- 17:37Jennifer Johnson: And then finally, your boundary framework.
- 17:40Jennifer Johnson: Develop clear guidelines of what you will and won't do, what you will and won't tolerate, and how you will and will and won't spend your time.
- 17:49Jennifer Johnson: Having these boundaries clear and in advance really help you maintain this structure, even as you face all of the pressure from the outside.
- 18:00Jennifer Johnson: So as we wrap up today's episode, I want to remind you that intentional living isn't about perfection.
- 18:06Jennifer Johnson: It's about alignment and making choices that connect your daily actions to your deepest purposes.
- 18:12Jennifer Johnson: Even when those choices are difficult or not popular, in a world that's always changing and trying to pull your attention in different directions, intentionality becomes your superpower.
- 18:23Jennifer Johnson: It allows you to stay focused on what matters most to you rather than just responding to whatever is loudest and most urgent.
- 18:31Jennifer Johnson: Your life is the sum of choices.
- 18:33Jennifer Johnson: Every single day you're choosing how to spend your time, your energy, and your attention.
- 18:38Jennifer Johnson: You're choosing what to prioritize and what to let go of.
- 18:41Jennifer Johnson: And you're choosing who to become and what to create.
- 18:45Jennifer Johnson: Start today.
- 18:47Jennifer Johnson: Before you respond to that email, before you say yes to that opportunity, before you fill another hour with busy work, pause and ask yourself Is this choice aligned with my values and vision?
- 19:01Jennifer Johnson: Is this how I want to spend the rest of my precious time and energy?
- 19:07Jennifer Johnson: You future self, the one living the life you actually want to live, will thank you for every intentional choice that you make today.