{"id":3577,"date":"2017-11-07T22:01:45","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T04:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abidingfathers.org\/?p=954"},"modified":"2017-11-07T22:01:45","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T04:01:45","slug":"5-practical-steps-to-intentional-fatherhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/2017\/11\/07\/5-practical-steps-to-intentional-fatherhood\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Practical Steps to Intentional Fatherhood"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Being an effective father requires being intentional. Intentionality starts with the basics and is best displayed by living a simple life. In a world that is hectic and hurried and a culture that encourages selfishness and excess, minimalism does not. And in a society that is rushing to gain more, satisfaction with less is counter-cultural.<\/p>\n<p>To live an intentional and effective life as a dad or any other role, we must begin by laying a proper foundation and then add practical steps on top of it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1<sup>st<\/sup> &#8211; Lay the Foundation<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Realize that your life is made up of choices<\/u><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Every morning is a new day<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t let your past determine your future<\/li>\n<li>You have a choice in the matter<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t be stuck in the same pattern of living<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Evaluate the culture that you\u2019re swimming in<\/u><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Life is not lived in a vacuum<\/li>\n<li>It is lived surrounded by a culture that is moving somewhere<\/li>\n<li>Living an intentional life will require you to take a step back and evaluate<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Examine yourself<\/u><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Know who you are<\/li>\n<li>Get a strong handle on your passions, talents, abilities, and weaknesses<\/li>\n<li>Give precious time and energy to this endeavor<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>2<sup>nd<\/sup> &#8211; Add Practical Steps<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Decide to live your life<\/u><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Stop comparing yourself to others<\/li>\n<li>You were not born to live their life<\/li>\n<li>There is no sense wasting\u00a0your life being jealous of theirs<\/li>\n<li>Determine today to be good at it. After all, you only get one shot.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Define a purpose<\/u><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Identify what you want your life to communicate and contribute<\/li>\n<li>Find a passion to live for that is bigger than yourself<\/li>\n<li>Write it\u00a0down.\u00a0It\u00a0will bring new meaning to your life<\/li>\n<li>It will wake you from the slow death of only living for yourself.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Set goals<\/u><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Goals move us and goals shape us.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Stay focused<\/u><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Turn off the distractions<\/li>\n<li>Remove nonessential belongings<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Learn from others<\/u><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Successful people are curious\u00a0people<\/li>\n<li>Identify people accomplishing your purpose and goals<\/li>\n<li>Study them and learn from them<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The worst thing you could ever\u00a0waste is your life. Instead, commit yourself to live intentionally and on purpose. Be the dad, on purpose!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/lawrence_original3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-960 \" src=\"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/lawrence_original3-e1510091268815-270x300.jpg\" alt=\"Lawrence Marshall\" width=\"204\" height=\"227\" \/><\/a>Be The Dad Movement Contributor<br \/>\nLawrence Marshall<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Being an effective father requires being intentional. Intentionality starts with the basics and is best displayed by living a simple life. In a world that is hectic and hurried and a culture that encourages selfishness and excess, minimalism does not. And in a society that is rushing to gain more, satisfaction with less is counter-cultural. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[153,91,176,82],"class_list":["post-3577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abiding","tag-amazing-stuff","tag-btd","tag-dadtastic","tag-parenting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}