The Intentional Year by Holly and Glenn Packiam
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

The Intentional Year: Simple Rhythm for Finding Freedom, Peace, and Purpose by Glenn Packiam and Holly Packiam is a practical guide for a purposeful life.

My Overview

The Packiams, a husband and wife team, offer helpful tips for a purposeful and balanced life. Through anecdotes, they share their experiences and insights for planning everyday life around faith and season/stage. The book is divided into three parts:

  • Part 1: Reflection of the Past
  • Part 2: Inventory (Examining the Five Spheres of Life)
  • Part 3: Action (Creating the Intentional Year)

In a relatable and simple manner, the Packiams detail the purpose and benefit to planning and creating an intentional year. There’s nothing groundbreaking offered in this book, but it’s not meant to. The book’s strength, is the authors’ sharing of their insights and the practices that have worked best for them through different seasons of life.

While I found the entire book helpful and worthwhile, Part 3 was of most interest to me. It’s easy enough to read the book and decide to incorporate new habits to become more intentional, but without an actual plan of action it won’t mean much. In Part 3: Action: Making It Stick, the Packiams share the rhythms and rules of intentionality they’ve adopted in their lives. In essence, they provide a good framework for creating an intentional life.

Wondering if this book is for you? If you’re looking for ways to add intention and focus to your life, then this book if for you.

My Recommendation

I highly recommend this book, especially the print edition. Last year, I listened to the audiobook and though I found it helpful didn’t implement any tips from it. This year, I knew reading the Kindle edition would be better for me. This book offers a lot of helpful tips that anyone can benefit from. Even if you’re already focused on keeping your life intentional, you’ll likely find some helpful takeaways. For years, I’ve been planning my life with a focus on simplicity and intentionality. At the end of each year, I review the habits that worked best (see here and here), and make changes as needed. Even though I already have a way of keeping the year intentional, I appreciated the tips and insights offered. I’ll likely even revisit this book in the future.

Have you read this book yet?