Before the ball dropped on 2020, I took a minute to put some respeck on 2019. It was a challenging year for me personally (I worked out some ish in therapy) and professionally (I asked for abundance and then felt overwhelmed). But I’m thankful for all of it, even the times when I stumbled (literally and figuratively). I used that time to figure out my one word for the New Year and give a hat tip to the rollercoaster moments.
The blessings reminded me of what’s possible when I have my ish together.
The lessons reminded me of what happens when I don’t. Ouch.
But, like Chance said, “I turned all my Ls into lessons… Dreams filling up, I’m like skrrrt.”
And I didn’t do all of this reflection by myself. I hosted my final writing challenge for the year. It was Pick One Word to Define 2020 and 70-plus people signed up to move purposefully in a new direction. Here’s a quick recap of what we did.
ON DAY 1: LOOK BACK AT IT
On the first day we followed that Zen proverb says: Let go or be dragged. We didn’t beat ourselves for old mistakes. Instead, we identified one disappointment. Then assessed and acknowledged the damage and decided to learn from it. After that it was onto the good stuff. We celebrated our big and small wins. For me, that was throwing a high school graduation party for the No. 1 Son and a 65th shindig for my mother.
ON DAY 2: ANSWER THE $64,000 QUESTION: WHAT’S YOUR PURPOSE?
In my twenties, success means titles and promotions and now it’s much deeper than that. I enjoy the perks of a nice piece of coin just as much as the next entrepernuer, however, if my work is not pushing me toward my purpose of coaching others to tell their stories and create influence impact and income then what am I doing?
So, I pushed everyone in the challenge to dig deep. They had to answer:
- How do you define success?
- What energizes you?
- What scares you the most? (Why do you allow this to have power in your life?)
- What are you looking forward to in 2020?
- What are you being called to do? What’s your purpose?
ON DAY 3: THE POWER OF ONE WORD
Unlike me, some people started the challenge with their one word—alchemy, domination, focus, happy, faith, discipline, trust—already on deck, which was cool. But they still had to create a personal definition for that word and a mantra to:
- Remind and affirm how they want to live their life
- Reframe their thoughts
- Center their mind when doubt and overwhelm kick in (because it will)
My word for 2020 is significance. What’s yours?
