I led a workshop for work on Tuesday called “Your 2021 Vision”. The main goal of the workshop was to choose a word/theme of the year, a tradition I’ve personally practiced since 2016. Tomorrow I’ll do some reflection on my 2020 word, and on New Year’s Day we’ll unveil 2021 . . . so today I thought I’d share some of the workshop’s prompts you can use to come up with your own word.
Ground rules:
- “New Year, New You” is kind of bullshit. You are already inherently good enough today.
- Productivity does NOT equal worth.
- The same tools don’t work for everybody! That’s okay. There’s a reason there are so many ways to do this, people are different.
Resolutions vs. Themes
Resolutions: Set up like goals with milestones, more rigid, focused on one outcome, can be easily derailed by roadblocks or missed steps, the end when you accomplish them (or when you don’t …)
Themes: Flexible, focused on how you want to feel, help you seize opportunities and guide decisions throughout the year, and you don’t have to know how to ‘accomplish’ them yet!
How can you use your theme/word of the year?
- Make it visible, every day. Make a sign, put it on your fridge, your bathroom mirror, sticky note on your computer, get a tattoo . . . whatever works.
- You can let it influence how you spend your time, how you spend your money, how you dress, what you say yes/no to, what goals you set, etc.
Developing your theme/word of the year:
It’s 12/30/2021 . . . what did you year look like?
Put yourself into the future and write in the present tense. Do a messy brainstorm. Bullets. Sentences. Doodles. Don’t censor yourself. Get anything down on the page.
Then, check yourself. Do you want to do these things? Why? What is driving you? Make sure you have intrinsic motivation and are not thinking of goals/habits/etc just because you “should”.
Next, it’s still 12/30/2021 . . . how do you want to feel when you when you look back on the year?
Again, put yourself into the future and write in the present tense. Do a messy brainstorm. Bullets. Sentences. Doodles. Don’t censor yourself. Get anything down on the page.
Look at your two prompts:
- Can you pull out any words that resonate with you? What connections or theme(s) are showing up?
- Brainstorm a list of words/themes to use from these prompts.
Themes can be anything! A word, a phrase, an adjective, a noun, an adverb, a verb! Anything!
Finally, pressure test your word or words on your shortlist:
- Does the word connect you to how you want to show up for yourself this year?
- Does the word connect you to how you want to show up for others this year?
- Does the word connect you to any goals you do have in mind?
- Do you feel positive emotions when you see the word? (joy, motivation, etc)
Sleep on it. And then run with it in 2021. As long as you keep it visible and meaningful, you’ll hopefully see how a word can help shape your year and honestly manifest some pretty cool things.
With Love,
Natalie