This week we're going to talk about being intentional. Y'all, it's easier said than done. So many people just go through life without doing things on purpose. What Happened When I Got Intentional I need to tell you about a time that I was not so intentional. When I graduated from high school, I very excitedly got out of the state of Tennessee where I had grown up and attended the University of Central Florida. I went for the great business school and the beautiful campus, but I didn't really participate with the school side of things. Let's just say, I loved the beach more than I did class. And my grades showed it. I wasn't intentional with my time or my studying, and at the end of my first semester of my sophomore year, I had a 1.4 GPA. YIKES! Y'all, it wasn't that I wasn't smart and willing to work hard-I just didn't focus. But here comes the good news. When I decided to transfer to the University of Tennessee-to spare my mother the out of state tuition and because I realized I wanted to return to Tennessee after college-something amazing happened! They accepted my credits but didn't carry my GPA over from UCF. I got a clean slate. And I ran with it! I got really serious. I stayed late, I did extra credit, and I went the extra mile. At the end of my sophomore year, my first semester at UT, I got a 4.0. All because I was intentional. It's so easy to just get by. It's so easy to let life happen and just spend our time reacting instead of acting. I want us to do something different. I want us to be intentional and do things on purpose. Things will not happen for you in life; you have to make things happen. 5 Areas of Your Life to Be Intentional 1. Be Intentional With Your Marriage I read this a few weeks ago on Twitter: "If you want what you used to have, you have to do what you used to do." What did you used to do in your marriage? It is so easy for our marriages to become businesses. You and your spouse did not fall in love over the cable bill, or kid's schedules, or determining who was going to pick up the dry cleaning. Before the busyness of kids and errands and all the to-do lists, you and your spouse probably just had fun together. In my life, there are things that Matt and I used to love to do. We still do those things, because we schedule time to do them. We put it on the calendar. If you wait for those things to happen, they will never happen, because life will get in the way. What do you and your spouse love to do together? Those things don't have to slip away. Life gets busy, but don't let your marriage become an afterthought. Be intentional with your marriage and see how it changes things for you, your spouse and even your kids! Related: Ep. 49 - How to Get Your Husband on Board With Your Business 2. Be Intentional With Your Parenting In any area of our lives, it's easy to be reactive instead of proactive, but this seems particularly tempting with kids. Admittedly, I have two kids and they are fairly young, and I'm learning with many of you. But I've noticed that we, as moms, spend a lot of time reacting. We react to school and sport schedules. We react to what other parents are doing. We react to handling their behavior. We react to dealing with tough situations. Trust me, I know parenting is hard. But we're going to spend the energy regardless, so we might as well spend it on the front end, shaping our kids proactively, rather than always reacting to whatever life throws at us. Being intentional with what you want your kids to know, feel, do and experience doesn't have to look like holding yourself to an impossible standard of perfection. Just do things on purpose; it's amazing how our kids will get it. Related: Ep. 8 - How to Deal with Mom Guilt 3. Be Intentional With Your Business You can't float by in your business and wonder why you didn't reach your goals. Success won't happen if you don't do things on purpose....

It's time to talk about building a social media strategy that works. No matter the type or size of your business, having a strong social media strategy is important. You don't have to be an expert to find success on social media. Getting People to the Party With an Effective Social Media Strategy I want you to think of your social media profiles like a party! And people can't come to your party and have a great time if they don't know about it or show up. I'm going to break this down into seven ways for you to step up your social media strategy to attract more followers. Seven Ways to Step Up Your Social Media Strategy 1. Be Visual If your social media page is a party, think about how you signify to real-life guests where to find your party. You put out balloons and maybe a sign. You want to make it really clear: THIS IS THE PLACE TO BE! Do the same thing when you post content on your social media page: make it visual whenever possible. This will instantly set your content and posts apart. Can you add a photo or video? Is there a graphic you can create? There are tons of apps and tools to help you create visual content in less than a minute. I've got a list of a few of my favorites on my Social Media Cheat Sheet. 2. Be Interesting The human brain is designed to ignore anything that is familiar. It's constantly scanning its environment and labeling, categorizing and discarding anything that isn't necessary for survival. It's crazy. It's the reason that I can say, "If at first you don't succeed . . . " and you instantly know how to finish that sentence. Your brain finishes it for you and moves on. But if I say, "If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving probably isn't for you," then that stands out because it's interesting. Related: Ep 31: Branding the Look and Tone of Your Busines 3. Be Varied When you add variety to your content on your social media strategy, it keeps people coming back for more because you've added an element of surprise and delight. It's the same reason that I could go into T.J. Maxx twice a week but I won't go into a department store more than twice a year. Department stores don't have as much variety as T.J. Maxx! The variety is addicting and it draws you in again and again. Mix up the types of post you're putting out into the world to keep your follower's attention. Related: Get the Most Out of Your Content 4. Be Engaging If you want to grow your impact on social media, you need to increase your engagement. Engagement indicates how many people acted on your post-they didn't just view it or scroll past it; they responded in some way. They liked it, shared it, retweeted it, left a comment, etc.  Any of these are great things because the more people that engage with your posts, the more "successful" the platform views that post and the more likely they are to show it to even more people. When it comes to your social media strategy, pay attention to what types of your posts get people to do something. 5. Be Responsive In life and on social media, one-way conversations are not fun. That's why you should set aside a few minutes each day to respond to comments and feedback you receive. Your customers are more likely to respond to your content (remember: engage!) when you respond to them and engage. Treat others how you want to be treated, right? So if you want more responses, be more responsive. Related: 3 Ways to Connect With Your Tribe Using Social Media Content 6. Be Consistent If your social media followers see you four times a day for months, and then you choose to go off the grid, they'll be confused. You have to show up when you say you're going to and be consistent! You get to choose what your consistency is, but then stick to it! Your content should have variety, but your frequency should have consistency. Teach people what to expect from you and then follow through. Consistency is so key in building...