Three words to live your life by

Do you write down your New Year resolutions?  I stopped doing that several years ago as each year it was the same thing – lose weight, exercise more, etc… etc…  

No.  Instead I come up with three words that will shape and hopefully drive my life for the coming year.   I’ve found in the past that this has worked well for me, because whenever an opportunity would come up or I’d be asked to do something, I could do a quick check-in to see if it fitted my priorities for the year, and if it didn’t, I’d gracefully decline.

What sort of words have I come up with? One year it was health, acceptance and authenticity – the driver that year being that I needed to take better care of myself.  Another year it was creativity, energy and connectivity, and then we had courage, curiosity and collaboration.  Much depended on what I wanted to focus on that year or what had happened in the previous year to make me want to go in a certain direction.

So as we enter 2016, I am back selecting my words for the new year ahead.   

So… drum roll please…. What are the words for 2016?

Launch. Learn. Life. (I am big on alliteration)  

Launch because I am starting a new venture - Full Circle Publishing - through which we will help authors launch their books, taking the book from concept to completion.  It’s exciting and scary at the same time, but I am looking forward to this new challenge.  And who knows, maybe we will re-launch our magazine Company, which was a pet project of mine for years.

Starting anything new means that you are on a learning curve, and I am no exception. I’ve always been a lifelong learner and I welcome the opportunity to test the old grey cells before it’s too late.  

As for my third word – life – I really want to make sure that I have some down time in 2016 so it is not all work.  I guess the goal here is I am wanting to make sure I get a life.   

I have to say it’s tempting to also throw in a fourth word for 2016, because in order for all the above to work – I have to let go.  And I think it is feasible as I have a great team at Company of Women who will carry on the day-to-day work.  Plus I won’t be disappearing, just being more selective on where I participate.

So what’s your three words?  Try it on for size, you might be surprised where it takes you. 

Choose three words to live your life by

For the last two years, I have chosen to come up with three words to live my life by, instead of making New Year resolutions that I likely won’t keep.

For 2013 my three words were creativity, energy and connectivity and I did well by these choices.  The prior year, for example I had focused on my health, as I hadn’t been that well, so choosing energy was speaking to the fact that not only did I feel much better, but my energy level was up and I was able to accomplish more.

Creativity should probably be an ongoing word for me, because when I am not able to be creative, I feel stifled and boxed in.  Being able to tap into my creativity is therefore essential and boosts my energy level no end. 

Our 2013 conference, Journey 2 Success, was by far the most successful – partly because of the rich content and the introduction of our making the pitch contest which challenged my members’ creativity but also because of the sponsors we had on board – connectivity at its best.  

We also branched out into further domains, with a new chapter in Winnipeg, connections made in Vancouver and a highly successful Five Days to Feeling Fabulous webinar series that brought thirty health care professionals together and was viewed by over 560 people from around the world.

So all told, I felt I lived up to my three words, which makes choosing them for next year more challenging, but I have.

First is courage.  I want to push myself beyond my comfort zone and start doing more online webinars and programs myself, not just contracting others to do so.  This will mean a huge learning curve, but I know I am a hands-on learner, and the best way for me to learn is to just do it.

My second word is curiosity.  Together with Amy Hunter, I am starting to write another book, but one that is not based on my story, but stories of hundreds of women who fall prey to self-doubt, feeling not good enough or who suffer from the imposter syndrome.  My sense is that thousands of women feel this way at one time or another in their lives, and our goal is to ask questions, dig deep and find some solutions to support women in their quest to being successful on their own terms.

Last but by no means least, the third word is collaboration.  I can’t achieve the above two without collaborating with others, and having learned the hard way, I am being more selective about who I partner up with or with whom I form alliances.  I just know it is the way to go, and I also know myself in that I much prefer to work with people rather than toil away on my own.  You gain such strength, energy and creativity when you work with others who lend their talents to a project.

So, there you have it – the three ‘C’s for my life in 2014 – Courage. Curiosity. Collaboration.

What words would you choose?  I really recommend this approach, it is so much more effective than writing down that you are going to lose weight, be healthy and go to the gym more often.  How long does that last?  They say around six weeks, and then it is back to business as usual.

Change your approach.  Choose your words carefully and create the year you want for yourself.