Daily Actions to Use Your Word of the Year

Each year for the past quite a few years I've chosen a word to work with for the 365 days of that year.  Some years have been more successful than others.  Most years I choose a word and then say 'oh shit, I guess I picked that word 360 days ago.  Yikes!' near the end of the year.  But some years I've been super intentional.  

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Words I've chosen before have been Focus, Explore, Forward, Mindful, & Authentic.  I think that Mindful (2017) and Authentic (2018) were the first words that I really, really worked with a significant portion of the year.  In 2017 I did the Ali Edwards One Little Word journal class which was very helpful to work with my word consistently.  In 2018 I created a Journaling Challenge to help myself find my word and connect with it in the beginning of the year.  I intended to repeat the challenge in 2019, changing the prompts a little for that year but I honestly can't remember if I completed it or not.  Unofficially I'm going to say my word for 2019 was GROWTH, better yet how about TRANSFORM.  I grew a whole damn human and grew myself too.  If the word of the year is about transformation, boy 2019 was a transformation.  I wasn't able to do this in 2020, but the prompts are perfect for anytime of the year!  

In this post though, I want to share with you four simple exercises to connect to your word.  You don't have to get elaborate or feel intimidated.  This is to help you take actions each day while only putting in the effort to create the actions once!  Here is how to connect with your word and work with it consistently all year.

Define it

First, define your word.  Put this at the front of your planner or on your mirror or on your fridge or in your car or at your desk.  Put the definition in multiple places.  Just be sure you put it where you'll see it everyday.  When you define your word you get close to what it actually, truly means.  This will help you to decide which aspect of the definition you want to apply to your life.  Maybe there is a meaning you didn't know existed.  Maybe the official definition is surprising to you.  When you define it you'll have a literal grasp of what the word means and then you can find out what it means to you.

Choose 3 areas to apply your word

Since you'll want to work with this word each day choose three areas of your life that you want to improve with your word.  Start with a broad area you want to improve like family or home, personal, work, or health.  Then narrow that down with three more (or fewer) focus areas for each section.  When it comes to creating your focus areas, ask yourself how your word of the year can be applied to your broad areas.  My broad sections this year are family, personal, and online.  Then I asked myself how I'd find HARMONY in these three ares.

• Harmony with my family means spending time together as a family of three, giving more, and nurturing our partnership.  
• Harmony in my personal life means focusing on my spirituality, moving more, and finding time for self-care.  
• Harmony for my online presence means prioritizing creating content for my blog, my Etsy shop, and my YouTube channel.

Create daily actions

After you've narrowed down the areas of your life you'd like to improve or focus on with your word, create a list of a daily action (or a few) you can take to apply the word to your life.  For example, to spend time with my family I can plan healthy meals, eat at the dinner table, and intentionally shut out technology (phones, computer, distractions, etc).  Once you create your daily actions you'll be more likely to take the steps to implement your word rather than just choose it and be done with it.  Creating these daily actions also gives you something that you can track.  Use a habit tracker in you planner or in your phone to remind you to take these actions daily.

Reflect monthly

Once you've outlined what you'll attempt to do each day to incorporate your word into your life, be sure to set aside time each month to reflect.  Maybe you keep a journal each day of how you implemented your actions.  You could even do a monthly or weekly habit tracker.  Take time when your planning the next month in your planner or calendar to ask yourself how you'll take these daily actions in the future.  Remember, everyday is a new day and don't think a missed day or a missed week is a failure.  Resolve to do better.  Outline how you will do better.  And then do better.  The only person you need to be better than is the person you were yesterday....and it's ok if you fall behind.  Just do the next thing!  Just keep going!

Bonus: Create a Vision Board

A bonus activity to connect to your word of the year is to create a vision board.  Choose your word and define it on your board.  Then create some branches off of that word with your three areas.  Under these areas clip pictures from magazines or your Pinterest boards that represent success in these areas.  Be sure to include some images of yourself succeeding at those areas too!  When you see yourself on your board you're more likely to identify with it!  In fact I have a whole post on creating a successful vision board right here.

Connecting with your word of the year can be a make or break type of deal.  Spoilers: if you don't feel like you connect with your word, go ahead and change it!  This whole thing is about growth so if you outgrow your word or if it isn't serving you, change it!  Doing the January Journaling Jump Start can help you to find a word that you can connect with by asking you questions about your current state.  But if that state changes...feel free to change your word.  It's your life to live!

I love breaking down my word in the these manageable chunks because I'm more likely to take action if I have an outlined action to take.  Saying to myself 'I'd like to find Harmony this year' doesn't really help me to find it.  It's about creating space for your word to occupy through daily actions and behaviors.

If you want some inspiration for a vision board or working with your word this year check out my Vision Planner video over on my YouTube channel.  You can also find a ton of Word of the Year posts on the blog especially this one on Mantras.  Mantras are my favorite way to work with words each year!  I shared on Instagram my mantra for my word Harmony, you can see it here.  Read more about my vision planner here.

What is your word of 2020?  How did you discover it?

xoxo, Moe 

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2019 January Journaling Jump Start

Well, here we are again.  Another year over & a new on just begun.  Last year I did my own little journal prompt exercise to discover my word of the year.  It's not that other prompts & challenges out there were bad...it was just that I was bad at them.  Sometimes I need something that fits me instead of me trying to fit in.

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I will say, over the years there's been quite a few things I don't fit into and I've learned to blaze my own trail rather than try to follow along.  And so the January Journaling Jump Start was born!

Last year was my first year coming up with the prompts and this year I changed just a few of them to align more with what I'm looking to discover.  So here we go.

What is the January Journaling Jump Start?

This is a four week journaling prompt exercise to help you reflect on 2018, plan for 2019, research who you want to be, and outline your next action steps.  Each week has a theme - reflect, plan, research, outline - and 7 prompts to help you connect with each theme.  You can take just a few moments to jot down the answer or get creative in your journal to do a little bit of self care.

This month long activity will help you discover the perfect word to live by in 2019.  Your word should be personal & it should be something you can incorporate into your everyday life over the next year.  It's all about focusing on how you want to feel in the new year not necessarily a physical thing you want to gain.  It's about making space for a new you so that you can become the person you'd like to be.

How Can I Get Started?

First download the prompts in the link below.  You'll find a set of journaling cards featuring the prompts as well as a link for a planner template download.  There are a TON of ways to do this though - use your current journal, create a mini album, make a dedicated travelers notebook, start a listing journal, add it into your vision planner - just get to it!  

The best part is that you can be creative in the way that really connects with you!  And hey, if these prompts don't connect with you create your own challenge and share it with us in the Five Sixteenths | Live Creative group over on Facebook!

DOWNLOAD THE 2019 JANUARY JUMP START HERE

If you want to check out last year's journal prompts (they are very similar so you can totally use those journal cards too), click here.  The journal cards for this year's prompts work perfectly with the December Patreon Printable of the Month, too.  If you're down to join in on an ever growing library of printables, join the Printable of the Month Club for only $3 a month!  Click here to join.

Happy 2019 my friends!

What is your word for 2019?  Have you chosen a word for your year before?

xoxo, Moe

What Does Your Best Self Look Like?

We're nearly half way through the January Journaling Jump Start!  Who's excited about how their personal reflection & word planning is going?  Today I wanted to jump off of the second week of prompts which involve planning who we want to be in 2018.  I mentioned in the first JJJS post that I like to focus on how I want to feel versus what I physically/materially want to gain.  I find that makes me more successful.  So I asked myself this question - what does my best self look like?

There is an exercise I heard about somewhere, at some point in time - specific, I know.  Basically I was asked to consider what my best self looked like.  Since I've heard that question, I've done a bit here and there to work with what that person is.  Its about finding words that are positive & encouraging, words that focus on growth, and words that focus on feelings.  It's about finding words to build up confidence and self worth.

It's not about self deprecating words, words that may have a mentally negative impact, or words that tear you down.  If you feel uninspired by the words you're using to describe the best you or feel that you can't achieve that version of yourself......try using different words!  For example - my best self is skinnier, prettier, has less debt, has better skin.  Those words don't inspire action in me.  They make me feel that I am failing.

Its about positive, actionable words.  Your best self does the actionable things towards those ends.  My best self does 10 minutes of yoga in the AM, eats her veggies everyday, maintains her skin care routine, saves $200 each month.  These are things that are actionable and positive.  These things make me feel successful because I can take action towards those ends each day, week, & month.  

This is sort of a hard concept to explain, but I hope it's made a bit of sense!  Focusing on the feelings we want to attract to ourselves will give us the inspiration to be those things.  Its all about raising our thoughts to meet where we want to be.  So if the best you does 10 minutes of yoga in the morning, drinks more water, and eats her veggies....then the best you is also working on her fitness.  If the best you purchases one coffee a week, brings her lunch to work, and saves $200 a month.....the best you is also reducing her debt and in control of her finances.  The key is to remember how these actions make you feel.  You feel more energized, you feel less money stress, etc.  How do these small things affect the big things in your life?  Little by little, small things add up to big changes.  And you have the whole year to see the shift!

That is one thing I need to remember - doing yoga, drinking water, and eating well makes me feel awesome and not lethargic & lazy.  I fall out of routine easy because I don't have the end in mind when focusing on the small things!  So during the January Journaling Jump Start make sure you're thinking about positive & actionable things and you're keeping the end feeling in mind.  Once we get to Week 4 and start to make weekly action steps toward using our word in 3 areas of our life, these little things will be super important!

It's also about being true to yourself.  I know a lot of people would suggest not to have limiting beliefs....but I think honesty with yourself is the best policy.  An example I can think of is with my blogging/social media goals.  If I try to do all the right blogging things - ebooks, newsletters, scheduled social media posts, a curated instagram feed, viral pinterest posts, etc etc - I get burnt out.  It feels inauthentic, overwhelming, and I don't feel successful.  With that being said, if something makes you feel unsuccessful at a goal, shift your actions, and be authentic to yourself.  You can do anything you want to....you just may have to do it your own way.  (I feel that a lot of people don't share this...they say 'this is how you do it.' and then you feel down because you aren't doing it that way.  I will be the first to tell you that I am a bit slower to catch on to things and I always have to modify.  There is nothing wrong with that!)

What small actions in your life make you feel good?

xoxo, Moe

January Journaling Jump Start // Find your 2018 Word of the Year

Something I've been doing for quite a few years now is choosing a word to work into my life for a year.  Some years I choose it and then forget it, some years it ends up being more prominent.  Last year was the first year I did Ali Edwards One Little Word and that really changed my relationship with my word.  Truth be told I only completed 1/3 of the prompts but that was enough to help me live mindfully in 2017.

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This project helped me incorporate my word into my everyday life.  It allowed me to work long enough with it that Mindful naturally became an important thought for me each day!  This year, my word for 2018 came to me rather early.  I chose Authentic because, during my mindful journey, I began to develop beliefs and to see my current beliefs evolve & change.  I realized that in some ways I was deceiving myself by believing one thing but taking no action towards it in my life.  In fact, the 7 of Swords showed up rather early in 2017 and that is what inspired me to choose the word Authentic.  I especially love the 7 of Swords in the After Tarot because it shows self deception!  You think you're getting away with something....but you're gonna get tripped up!

I do hope to do a blog post on my word, but this post is not that post!  Today I want to share with you a journaling activity through January that can help you to discover your word of the year and take action towards it.

What is January Journaling Jump Start?

JJJS is a 4 week, 28 day long prompt a day journaling project designed to help you find your word of the year.  This doesn't have to be done in January either.  Any time is a great time to change it up and get focused!

Like I mentioned earlier, your word for the year should be something you actively incorporate into your life.  2017 was the first year I did that and it was great!  But finding ways to do so...or even finding a word that resonates with you can be hard.  The way I find my words is through a little bit of mental reflection on who I am and where I want to be.  I focus on how I want to feel in the coming year.  Personally, I don't focus on something physically I can gain - a new house, a new car, a new waistline....etc.  Focusing on how we want to feel is the best way, I think, to make sure we can shift our thinking and in turn achieve our goals.  So this journaling activity is designed to help you reflect, plan, research, and then set actionable goals in three areas of your life!

The first week is about reflection.  What was 2017 for you?  What do you want 2018 to be for you?  What did you start?  What did you finish?  It is about bringing together your accomplishments from last year and pushing your successes into the next.

The second week is about planning.  Where do you want to see improvement this year?  What inspired you last year?  What do you want to embrace in 2018?  What do you want to release?  Discover the best you that you can be in 2018 and make a plan to get there.

The third week is about inspiration & research.  Find quotes that inspire you & words you'd like to use to describe yourself.  Pinterest is a great way to find amazing quotes.  I start a board full of quotes that inspire me as I try to decide on my word.  At the end of this week you can look at your quotes & start to see a pattern.  What word can sum up these quotes?

In the last week, begin to outline how you'll incorporate the word you've discovered in the three improvement areas you chose the second week!  Finally begin to make weekly action steps so that you can incorporate your word into your daily life.

How can I get started?

While this is not a group challenge with a community behind it - honestly, I've never really felt those accountability groups helped me...they always made me feel less than for not doing things on time or in a certain way - I encourage you to download the journaling cards & the weekly planner layout below.

If you're down for something like a mini album, go ahead and do that!  Use the journaling cards in any pocket albums you do or do what I'm doing - working in my new vision planner.  I am currently using a Happy Planner size pages for my vision planner (about 7 x 9 inches) this year.  I assembled some printed graph paper on Mini Happy Planner discs and put it in Websters Pages Composition planner cover.  I also threw in some of the happy planner pocket pages because that's how I like to do my OLW stuff too.  Doing a journaling activity like this, I think, is best done on planner pages so that you have them all together.  Print out the weekly planner pages, date them, and get your word jump started!  

DOWNLOAD THE JANUARY JUMP START HERE!

You don't have to follow this up with another Word of the Year project, but I'd highly suggest it.  I plan on doing One Little Word again this year even if I only complete 3 months worth of prompts!  I do hope you are able to find a word this year that will help you.  Make sure to follow along on Instagram as I share with you how I've filled out the January Journaling Jump Start prompts!  Join the Five Sixteenths | Live Creatively group for more journaling inspiration.

What word did you choose?  How do you incorporate it into your daily life?

xoxo, Moe