Alice: I was just wondering if you could help me find my way.
Cheshire Cat: Well that depends on where you want to get to.
Alice: Oh, it really doesn’t matter, as long as…
Cheshire Cat: Then it really doesn’t matter which way you go.
– Alice in Wonderland (1951)
In early 2014 I typed a post titled What One Word Will Define Your Year? in which I pre-labeled the year ahead of me. This exercise, used to help you visualize the road ahead, helped me focus my intentions in 2014.
If you can’t tell by now, I have big plans for 2015 and it’s imperative I stay focused. This drill helps put a theme to everything that needs to get done. It’s a way of thinking through the year and bundling it all together.
Just as a company has core values that help drive decisions, this “theme” will help me stay in line with what I feel is important during this season of life.
COMPOSE
This year my word is compose for a number of reasons.
First and foremost, because this is the year I begin forging my own personal path. I flopped around in 2014 and sort of, half-way, kinda figured it out towards the end. Just as an artist would compose a piece of music, this is the year I begin to compose the life I want. It may not look like much right now, but Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Along this life-creating-journey (and yes, there’s a considerable chasm between living life vs. just being alive) I know there’s going to be some seriously tough times. Work will give me curveballs, Katie is going to get frustrated with me, there are going to be financial setbacks, and so on… But through it all, I have to remain composed. When you panic, you make poor decisions. As a wise woman named Sweet Brown once said, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”
Finally (and here’s where I get creative), this is the year I take my writing to another level. As anyone that receives my emails can tell, I’ve been composing blog posts extensively this week. This trend is going to continue throughout the year, although not all of my writing will be published to the blog. The more I compose the works I’ve envisioned, the more I compose the life I want.
I’ve thought about this a lot. It may sound a bit cheesy or it may even sound cliché, but it’s what works for me. One of the most frequent questions I’m asked is “How do you stay focused on your goals?” Just like a workout plan, there’s no such thing as cookie cutter strategy for everyone. This is a great exercise to envision your next 6, 12, 36+ months and put an overarching theme to them to help you keep everything in line.
What’s Your Theme?
—
Leave me a comment or chat with me on Twitter, I’d love to hear from you. Have a great weekend!
