Intentional Intentionality
When Samuel was a boy, he dreamed of becoming a carpenter like his father. He sketched plans for beautiful tables and chairs, imagining the joy they’d bring to families. But as the years passed, his notebooks filled with designs while his workshop stayed empty. One day, his father looked over his shoulder and said gently, “Son, these plans are wonderful. But wood doesn’t become a table until you pick up your tools.”
That’s the truth about life: good intentions are noble, but it’s action that builds something real.
The reality of life is intention is great but action is the currency of life. Good intentions are just that. It is action that makes the difference.
This principle is recorded throughout scripture; our dear brother James says that “faith without works is dead.” Actions are what proves our intentions. It is not enough to just want to take control of our lives but action must be taken.
In ‘Start Somewhere’, I discussed the importance of bringing order to the chaos of our lives and imaging God’s creative nature by aligning our lives to produce as God has instructed. I would like to take time today to share the practical tools I use to bring action to my intentions.
A system to document the things in our lives and hold ourselves accountable is one of the best ways to ensure that our good intentions are lived out in our daily lives.
The system I use for these practices is Notion. Intentional order yields increase and Notion is a great tool to use for that level of order in our lives.
Notion from a Novice
Now I must admit, the details of what I discuss regarding Notion are fractional at best compared to the capabilities that are available through this service. There are experts that are far greater at explaining the details and functions of Notion that can be found on YouTube and even the company itself provides online trainings through the same platform. Today my goal is to share the logic behind my practices in Notion and pray they are a blessing to you in trying to organize your life.
The customizability of Notion is what has made it a powerhouse with regard to organizing my life. The ability to structure and display data, documents, and charts as desired is what shores up its usefulness for building my life system.
The database function gives data superpowers and allows you to build “systems” for your life. This concept of Systems we will revisit a little later and in more depth in another article but for now lets return to the basic building blocks of notion.
Minecraft for Adults
I have likened the building block nature of Notion to Minecraft for adults; however, your favorite building toy can be inserted here: legos, lincoln logs, kinnex, etc.
The best reference point that most of us have for organizing and storing data is a file folder structure. Whether it is a filing cabinet or your computers filing system, this is our best concept of housing data. I liken these file structures to Houses.
Folders “contain” information: docs, xls, and jpeg. Due to their linear nature it is easy to “loose” the information by forgetting where you put it. File folders house information. In the “house” you can have many different rooms. The rooms cannot be connected or share amenities.
File Folders only let you see the rooms in your house. You have to “drill down” to find the data you want. This data is not easily connected or visible in other formats, most of the time.
Notion lets information be “controlled.” “Organization” is left to the user instead of being linearly rigid. It also allows you to display important information readily.
Notion is a platform that allows you to build your life the way that works best for you. Notion is comprised of blocks which is where data is stored, hence likening it to Minecraft. Workspaces are where everything lives. Pages contain blocks and live in workspaces. Blocks contain information and live in Pages. Databases control information and can be accessed anywhere.
Notion lets you see your houses and rooms but have “access” to your most important information and “interact” with it immediately and from anywhere. It is like being able to be in every room of your house at the same time.
This level of intertwinedness is what makes Notion so powerful in being intentional with our lives.
Now I will share the application of Notion in my own life to hopefully “make sense” of everything I have shown you so far.
Intentions Proclaimed
The power in writing things down is well documented throughout history. Not only through the stories of the great men and women who affected great change in our world but also through scientific study and years of practice in Psychology has the power of putting it into words has been proven.
The power of writing down are also declared in scripture. The prophet declare that the vision should be written down because it would come to pass even if it takes a while.
In the vision of our lives God has appointed a purpose and plan for us. To live intentionally and see it come to pass is to write it down and work toward that vision. Notion is the tool that I have used practically to accomplish this.
As shared before, I have defined the variables of my life as Devotion, Family, Ministry, Career, and Development. How each of these areas is called or labeled changes in conversation but the principle of each is the key. Devotion is really my relationship with God. To display the writing of the vision I will share the image of my Notion dashboard for these areas of my life.
In Notion these variables are contained as pages within a database. In each page the goal, or vision, is explicitly stated. The easiest for our conversation today will be Devotion. In my relationship with God my goal is to be made more into His image every day to accomplish the purposes and plans of His Kingdom (ie. His Will). This proclamation of alignment in perfect one-ness with Jesus, like His prayer states in John chapter 17, is the vision or intention for my Devotion variable.
The ways we do this are to know Him and obey His commands. The main Spiritual Disciplines that bear this fruit in our lives are prayer and study of the word. Intentional daily communion with Him.
Intentions Applied
These main Disciplines are applied in my Notion workspace to ensure that I am purposeful and consistent. Everyday, I start my day with time set apart to read God’s word. This time is structured to allow for scheduled reading and study, which is whatever the Holy Spirit is leading me to dive deeper in for that day.
In prayer, I have a structure or pattern that I follow that the Lord has shown me in my relationship with Him. This is a format for our conversation that is unique to Him and I. It follows the Biblical teachings of Jesus about prayer but includes Scripture and other lists that bring my focus into alignment with Him. The main rule during this prayer time is to follow where the Lord leads. Sometimes that is all the way through the pattern and sometimes we just begin talking and He leads the conversation to something specific.
In Notion these intentions are applied through databases to recording my notes from Daily Bible Reading and what I feel the Spirit is speaking during my prayer times. The image below shows a few of those databases.
Intentions Held Accountable
The power of the calendar is how these intentions are held accountable in my daily life. Through the database function in Notion, a page can be given a date and time property. This automatically populates a time block in my calendar and a push notification on my phone that prompts me to open the page and begin my daily reading and time of prayer.
The important part of intention is action and the only thing that makes action consistent is a disciplined approach which includes accountability.
This system built in Notion contains the intention, action, and accountability needed to propel me toward the vision or the goals I am working toward. This is not the only tool out there and I encourage you today: my example was not to ask you to practice what I practice, but show my practice of the principle to encourage you to practice the principle in the system that works best for you.
I pray that in sharing how I have intentionally organized the chaos of my life will be a blessing to you. Through a System that has built the daily Systems of my life and held me accountable to the vision that God has given us for discipled lives. I pray it encourages you in your journey to build a structure to organize your chaos and produce the fruit that God has intended for your life.
What’s one area of your life you can build a system for this week? Start with a single page in Notion—or even on paper—and ask God to guide you as you organize your life for His glory.
Let's build together.