Brain-Dumping and My Word of the Year

I don't know . . . the whole "New Years Resolutions" thing went south for me long ago.  Maybe it's the attachment of the words "New Year" that caused such a short-lived interest for me.  Probably close to two decades ago, I transitioned into setting goals for myself at the beginning of each year.  Yeah, I know.  It's basically the same thing, right?  But in my particular head, it's so different.  More permanent.

Then, last year, I ventured into the world of choosing a "word of the year."  Ever heard of that?  Apparently, the idea has been around awhile, but I didn't hear about it until the end of 2017.  Basically, you prayerfully decide on a word--a trait, a description, a virtue, etc.--that you want to focus on for the year, and, in my own life, I've based my goals on that overarching theme.

Now, there's nothing magical about ringing in a new year.  A person can make and revisit goals any old time.  But, for me, the new year feels like a natural time to reflect and decide what I want to accomplish moving forward in all areas of my life.

My word for 2018 was Courageous.  I had almost chosen Fearless, but then I realized there is no courage without fear, and I wanted to step outside my comfort zone in any way God asked me to.  Focusing on that word was actually really helpful to me in many instances last year!

Side note:  When I say "focus," I don't mean yoga positions and chanting. It's just a matter of keeping the word in mind as an overarching theme for my goals and actions and attitudes.

This year, 2019, my word is Intentional.  After a period of needing to be more reflective, God is telling me it's time to take action and be more intentional in the ways I handle the various aspects of my life.  My business life is where the most changes will occur, probably.  I've been rather loosey-goosey in that respect for a while, for a variety of reasons, which I may gradually discuss in future posts.

Here is an example of how I created my goals based on the word "Intentional."

First of all, I happened upon this little gem of a printable form.  It's basically divided into two columns, one titled "More of This, and the other is "Less of This."  After printing it off, I brain-dumped all the things I could think of that I need/want to do more of in this coming year, and what I need to do less of in order to accomplish those things.

For my example, I'll share with you two of my entries:
More . . . protein and healthy carbs/Less . . . sugar and unhealthy carbs
More . . . writing/Less . . . just thinking about writing

Then, after studying my More/Less ideas, and with the idea of "Intentional" in mind, I created my goals.  For instance, my goal regarding eating is, "Eat the THM way a majority of the time, and exercise at least five times a week." (THM, or Trim Healthy Mama, is an excellent eating plan I used to follow. It takes a lot of thought and preparation, and I eventually lost focus. But I felt SO good when I followed it--I want all that energy back! :)  Also, in this one goal, I went ahead and included my desire to get back to regular exercise.)

My second goal reads, "Write every day.  Create and maintain a business schedule."  Writing is a big part of my business.  Besides blogging, I write Christian fiction novels.  As an independent writer/publisher, I also need to write ads and social media posts.  Notice I didn't specify a number of minutes or what it is I need to write each day.  That is part of my business plan, a separate document I won't get into now.  The important thing is that writing becomes a part of my every day again.

I'm not going to publicly state all of my goals at this point, but they may come up here and there in future posts.

Are you a goal-setting person?  What is your process?  Have you ever chosen a word of the year to focus on?  I invite you to share your experiences in the comments!

Happy 2019!

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