A few years ago I gave up on New Year’s resolutions. Instead I adopted a practice of choosing themes for the year, areas where I would try to excel or in which I would try to make changes. So every year I pick three words to help guide me in the upcoming year. And I try to make that year all about those themes.
Unfortunately, most years my themes suffer the same fate that resolutions would: I lose sight of them by the mid year. I’m working on making sure that doesn’t happen in 2016, but I say that every year too.
This year’s words are (once again) a revisit of some I’ve used in previous years.
Focus. I need to stop letting distractions… well, distract me from the things I really want to achieve. Focus is something that’s once again become a challenge for me. I’m hoping to make some progress in that this year.
Comfort. I want to push myself out of my comfort levels and take more risks personally and professionally. I’ve just begun to do this and I’ve seen improvements in my “product.” I’m hoping to do more of this and to see its effects on my life.
Creativity. The ability to create (write, photograph, complete projects ) is one of the reasons I want to focus.
Let’s see how I do this year. Wish me luck!
Last year I started the process of taking a step back from many of my extracurricular activities — I stepped down from board positions and away from volunteer committees, I stopped doing pro-bono work, I (mostly) stopped attending professional lunches and dinners, and I paused some of my projects. Basically, I started to reduce the activities that were cluttering my schedule and making me lose focus. The intent was that it would free up space and attention for the things that were truly important.