How to Do a Life Audit and Start Living With Intention

written by season journals

A Simple Guide to Intentional Living

In a world where everything is urgent and nothing waits, intentional living often feels like a luxury — something we admire from afar but struggle to claim for ourselves. It’s easy to wake up and immediately react to notifications, deadlines, external responsibilities. But what if we broke the cycle for just one day? What if we paused to notice how we’re spending our time, energy, and resources?

This is the essence of intentional living: choosing your life rather than drifting through it.

At Season Journals, we think a lot about how to design a life with purpose. Not a perfect life, but one that aligns with who you are and what matters to you most. This kind of life isn’t built in a day — it’s built in small, daily decisions. The “modern” way of living has been so ingrained in us that it will take time to train our brains to pause instead of react. To hear our inner voice. To tune in to our intuition.

One way we can begin to do this practically is by completing a Life Audit. Set aside 30 minutes to pause and take a look back on your life recently. Reflecting on the past is just as important as setting intentions in the present. It will give us the information we need to move forward with more clarity and purpose.

Let’s get started.

How to Do a Life Audit

1. Review the Last 30–90 Days
   Look through your calendar, spending habits, journal entries, photo gallery, or screen time reports. Write at least 20 things that happen throughout your days and weeks. They can be positive, negative, or neutral. For example, your list could look like this: team calls, picking up kids from daycare, monthly date night, yoga class, groceries, walk with a friend, emails, social media, driving, gym, birthday party….
   
   

2. Break It Down by Category
   Consider the different areas of your life — what we call Dimensions of Wellness: physical wellness, mental wellness, social wellness (relationships), occupational wellness (work), financial wellness, spiritual wellness, and environmental wellness . Put a star next to any of these items that contribute to your wellness in any of these categories. 
   
   

3. Notice Patterns without Judgement
   Notice the items on the list that don’t have a star next to them. Perhaps some of these things are responsibilities in life and work that can’t be changed — at least not right away. The point of this exercise is to bring awareness to what is supporting your well-being, and what may be compromising it. Awareness leads to clarity, and clarity leads to more intentional choices.
   
   

How to Start Living With Purpose

1. Define What Matters to You
   Write down 3–5 values that guide you.
   
   

2. Make Small Shifts
   Maybe it’s saying “no” to one thing a week that doesn’t align with your values or support your well-being. Maybe it’s reclaiming your mornings or protecting your evenings.
   
   

3. Use Tools That Keep You Grounded
   Whether it’s a journal, planner, or even a sticky note on your mirror, find a rhythm that brings you back to yourself and helps you make intentional decisions. 

How to Keep Showing Up

1. Set a Weekly Check-In
   Reserve 10 minutes each week to reflect and reset. You can even block it in your calendar. Answer the following questions in your journal: What worked? What didn’t? What do I need more or less of?
   
   

2. Build Rituals, Not Just Routines
   A routine gets the task done. A ritual makes it meaningful. Light a candle before journaling. Listen to your favorite podcast on a run. Remember, sometimes it’s the little things that make life enjoyable.
   
   

3. Recognize and Celebrate Alignment
   When something feels right, name it. Write it down. Celebrate the decisions that reflect who you are and what you value. That’s how you build a life you’re proud of — one aligned action at a time.
   
   

The tools we create at Season Journals — whether for relationship guidance or everyday well-being — are designed to help you slow down, reflect, and live life from a grounded place. When you’re living with intention, your actions begin to reflect your values. Your habits support your goals. And your life starts to feel like it’s yours again.

So here’s your invitation: take inventory. Open a journal. Light a candle. Look within and begin your journey to an intentional life.