Back in 2006 I found a Caribou Coffee napkin with the quote "Feel the Twinkle". I was smitten. What if I 'felt the Twinkle' all year long. What would it be like to have a word or motto that I referred to for the whole year. A word that will give me a check point to be sure I'm living my best life?
This started my word of the year adventure.
And almost 10 year later I'm still smitten with a word of the year.
In 2007 Ali Edwards started her One Little Word™ and I've followed along with her. She has a year long workshop you can subscribe to. I enjoy it very much and signed up again this year.
My word last year was Balance and how did I feel about it? I feel I did kept it in my heart all year. I worked very hard to adjust and create better balance. I also found that even after all these years of having have a "word", it's hard to keep that word in front of yourself. This year I did WAY better at that than other years.
- What Worked? - I did play more and I worked hard at remembering to enjoy the moment. That was big on both front. So I balanced my non work time better. I tried to disconnect when I could and focus on the NOW.
- Didn't work? - I didn't get my work load balanced, period. End of story. I tried and I think it will happen soon, but it didn't happen for 2014. But I thought about it a LOT. And I've made some serious adjustments, so I just need a bit more time.
This year I've chosen "FINISH" as my word.
It's a weird word, as one of my friends pointed out I really do finish a LOT of things. And maybe keeping TRACK of what I finish would be helpful. So I can look back. I just listened to Ali's December word talk again, it's a round up. And she talked about being able to go back to what she wrote from each year and feel good about what she did.
That got me to thinking maybe i need to keep track, to journal, to create a monthly accomplishment list.. SOMETHING I can look at and see all the gold stars.
So I wonder if my word should be FINISH or JOURNAL?
I also read Debby's and Elise's articles and love their thoughts about their word and they inspired me to think about my word. I'm not literal like Elise, but I like how she broke out her thoughts.. so I wanted to try it that way, it's similar to the categories I did for Balance.
Let me tell you what this word means to me, and how I plan to use it.
I want to ...
- FINISH Tasks in a more singular manner. Rather than splintering up what I do with multi-tasking. Multi-tasking is highly overrated. Being organized is better, but jumping from thing to thing means none of it is getting done. And I spend time getting back INTO a project. So I will get rid of that work/life flow and take a project as through to completion as I can. This is the number #1 reason this word has chosen me this year.. I keep seeing it .. FINISH in all caps!
- FINISH Projects seems obvioius, but like above, a project might wait a long time for a step to be done, then I'm hurrying to meet a deadline. If I focus on that finish I will then free up my time to enjoy other things. I won't have that deadline hanging over my head
- FINISH my thoughts letting myself encounter and enjoy the entire experience. Rather than checking this or that while i'm doing something else. Put my full attention into the moment. This continues from last year where I will stay with the present and savory it. The every day and the extraordinary experiences I'm lucky enough to encounter.
- FINISH My Life Goals such as excersing more and eating healty. I put those goals out there, and now I need to get serious about them. I have a lot of quilts to make and being healthy means I can do more. It's not a concrete finish, it's a thought, a way of living.
Plus I'm looking at a way to journal my year digitally. Some sort of words, visual, etc. I think being in Ali's workshop will help me with this.
You can join me here at my blog, Facebook group, and at my Online Quilt Bee for constant encouragement and chatter on your word!
And my prior years if you want to check them out
- 2014 Balance
- 2013 Create
- 2012 Enjoy
- 2011 Travel
- 2010 Possibility
- 2009 Hope
- 2008 Happy
- 2007 Imagination
- 2006 Twinkle
Do you have a Motto or Word for the Year?
Put it in my comments below!
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