SandraSays

the life & times of Sandra Fernandez

Three Words

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My 3 Words for 2018: Self. Now. Reduce.

As I have every year for several, I’ve picked three words to help guide me in 2018 instead of creating a long list of resolutions that will be forgotten within a month. Some years I do better than others at staying on track and keeping the themes for the year in mind throughout the year.

Last year’s words were: Focus. Move. Balance. In a year that included many distractions, such as Hurricane Harvey, I’m not shocked that for the latter part of the year I let myself get derailed.

This year’s words: Self. Now. Reduce. (You can see all the previous years’ choices through my archives.)

SELF: One of my focal points for this year is to take care of my physical, mental, and emotional well-being. In short, to prioritize my-SELF while I attempt to do everything else.

NOW: Is very similar to last year’s MOVE — vocalizing a desire to stop overthinking things and just do them. I need to stop over-thinking, over-planning and waiting until everything is idea to try new things or launch new projects. This approach may increase my failures, but it has the potential to help me learn. In the end, I expect this also will increase my successes.

REDUCE: This isn’t the first year that REDUCE makes an appearance as one of my choices. As someone who frequently holds onto things longer than I should — from miscellaneous objects to files — I need to make room for new experiences by cutting out the clutter. This includes things, time-wasters, and mental clutter.

This year I’m also incorporating several review sessions throughout the year to remind myself what I’m supposed to be focusing on this year. I’m hoping this will help keep me on track.

What are your goals, objectives or words for 2018?

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My 3 Words for 2017: Focus. Move. Balance.

My 3 Words for 2017: Focus. Move. Balance. (sandrasays.com)

Happy New Year! For many of us, a new year gives us a great opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start over in different aspects of our lives. Some might approach this through resolutions (which I used to do as well). Some of us pick themes or words to help guide the next year.

I choose three words to represent areas where I want try to improve or in which I would try to make changes. You can see the previous years’ choices through my archives. This year’s words are (once again) a revisit of some I’ve used in previous years.

Focus. For the third year in a row I’m making “Focus” one of the important themes for the year. I’m still letting things distract me from what’s important, from the goals and objectives that I really want to achieve. Focus is something that’s an ongoing challenge for me. Some years I do better at this than others. But I still don’t think I’m doing this well enough to take this off my list of words.

Move. This year I’m going to make an effort to stop overthinking things and just doing them. I have the bad habit of planning things out for a long while and then implementing them. I’m going to adopt the “fail fast” theory and just try new things — if they work, great; if they don’t work, then it’s a lesson learned. Either way, I’ll have actually ticked off items from my lists.

Balance —”Balance” is one of those words that has made an appearance in my yearly choice on more than one occasion. I need to make more time for fun, family, and friends. I need to go out and do things because it’s hard to be creative when you never go out and do creative things. And it’s important to refuel my spirit and mind.

What are your goals, objectives or words for 2017.

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My 3 Words for 2016: Focus. Comfort. Creativity.

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!

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My 3 Words for 2015: Balance. Focus. Create.

geralt / Pixabay

Three Words

It’s become a tradition (or a habit) now, every year I pick three words to help guide me in the upcoming year. I do this instead of writing out resolutions or personal goals. I’ve been much happier with the results of this practice, instead of telling myself that I’ll lose weight or save more money.

This year’s words are actually revisiting some I’ve used in previous years. What that tells me is that these are areas that need more work.

Balance — I need to make more time for fun, family, and friends. I need to go out and do things, instead of reading about others going out and doing things. As I stated two years ago, it’s hard to write about interesting things if you’re not doing interesting things.

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.

Create — 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.

What did you plan for 2015?

Blogging Goals

By the way, I decided not to create new blogging goals for 2015. Mostly because I got distracted from the ones for 2014 and didn’t achieve them to my satisfaction. I will simply be adopting last year‘s again:

  • Create a style guide
  • Pay attention to the editorial calendar
  • Master analytics
  • Go mobile
  • Add an email component
  • Be visual

Wish me luck!

image source: geralt / Pixabay

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2014: My new three words

2014 3 wordsAs I have every year, I’ve picked three words to help guide me in 2014. This is my third year choosing themes instead of resolutions or goals. I’ve been much happier with the results of this practice.

Last year’s words were: Reduce. Balance. Invest. And I did reduce some of the clutter in my life, in particular of the things that were distracting me mentally. I started including more time for fun, family, and friends (for Balance). I didn’t do as well in the Invest portion as I would have liked, but I did more than I had in previous years.

This year’s words: Comfort. Honesty. Growth.

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.

HONESTY. I’m going to continue on the path of removing some of the filters that I’ve placed on my voice, my presence online and offline. Some of this is related to taking risks, but some of this is simply a desire to be more transparent.

GROWTH. In a follow-up to last year’s “Invest” I am going to make decisions to create growth in myself in all aspects of my life.

The idea is that all three of these words are going to move me in the direction I want. Wish me luck.

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Looking forward and three words

Reduce. Balance. Invest.
2013: Reduce. Balance. Invest.

Every year I would pick resolutions and goals to help guide me in the upcoming year.
And every year I failed.

This year I picked three words, three themes for the year. I started this last year, copying the idea from other bloggers I read and follow. After years of making resolutions and abandoning them after a few months, I was ready to try something new. I hoped that this would prove to be a better influence in the long run.

I’m not going to lie… I did think that it wouldn’t make much of a difference. I thought that, ultimately, my “words” would off my radar after a few months, the same as my resolutions normally did.

I was wrong.

Last year’s words were: Simplify. Focus. Create. And somehow I managed to stay on track with these themes for most of the year.

This year’s three words are: Reduce. Balance. Invest.

REDUCE: This is exactly what it sounds like — I’m going to reduce the clutter in my life. And I do mean the things I have, the things I do, and the mental and emotional baggage I accumulate.

BALANCE: I am going to start including more time for fun, family, and friends. I need to start going out and actually doing things, living life, instead of reading about it. In addition, it’s hard to write about interesting things if you’re not doing interesting things.

INVEST: I am going to make an effort to invest time and money in myself. This includes the more formal personal and professional development and the more whimsical things that will feed my creativity and spirituality.

And I’m hoping that 2013 is a more productive and successful year.

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UPDATE: I’ve started a Storify board with stories and resources for these themes. Hope you enjoy it.