Word of the Year and my 20 for 20 List
2020 I’m coming for you; I hope you’re ready….
How is 2020 treating you so far? If the first thing that sprung to mind
was a negative thought, I am asking you to take a moment to think again, and
this time think of something positive/happy/pleasantly surprising that has
happened for/to you this year. In the majority of cases I would bet that the
positives outweigh the negatives, yet in that moment when we’re asked to think
about how our year is going, it’s the negative/s, the minority, that spring to
mind.
I’m not sure if I’m talking for most people when I say that, or if it’s
just me that tends to give the negatives more air-time/brain-space than they
deserve, but lately I’ve been trying to reframe the negatives. It doesn’t
always work but hey, I'm only human.
OK so that was a tangent I didn’t see coming and today’s blog post (yep
I should just about make it on time to stick to my “every Wednesday”
timetable!) has absolutely nothing to do with that little blurb above. All I wanted
to do was say hi, how you doing?!
What I wanted to talk about today was 2020 and what I hope it holds in
store for me.
Are you familiar with the practice of having a word-of-the-year? In case
you’re not familiar with this term, your word-of-the-year is a word you choose
to adopt as your guidepost for the year.
In the words of Elizabeth Rider:
“Instead of a rigid New Year’s Resolution, a Word of the Year is your
constant—yet gentle—reminder to focus on creating positive change. Use your
Word of the Year to help guide your decisions and continue moving towards what
you want.”
In choosing my word of the year I reflected on what behaviours I
currently have that are hindering me achieving the things I want to achieve.
Two things sprung instantly to mind and these two behaviours led me to decide
on two words of the year. Namely, Consistency, and Imperfection (bear
with me on this second one). Now I know that it’s encouraged to only choose one
word but for me these two go so hand-in-hand that it’s almost impossible for me
see them as two words anyway, because I can’t have one without the other.
Let me explain.
I often draft blog posts that don’t see the light of day because once
it’s written I save it and fully intend to review the post, make tweaks/amendments/add
to it/take bits out “later on”. These are all things that in my mind
make it a better blog post for the reader, a perfect blog post. The trouble is
that I often take so long to go back and review it that by the time I’m ready
to post it, the topic I’ve written about isn’t relevant anymore. And so the
post is destined to see out the rest of its days marked as “Draft” and my blog
doesn’t see any new content from one month to the next.
I guess my point is if I wasn’t so focused on my blog posts being
perfect then I would have uploaded so many more posts. And in many cases the
improvements made to the posts I write are totally disproportionate to the
amount of time it has taken me to review them/change them/tweak them etc…..
So this year I am going to try and be more comfortable with posting
things that I know might not be as great as they could be but are still good
enough nonetheless. After all “done is better than perfect”.
And I can only truly embrace the art of being comfortable with
imperfection if I am consistent with the content I write. Because if I don’t
write anything the question of “is this piece perfect?” doesn’t apply to
anything.
And just as I can’t have imperfect blog posts without consistency in my
writing patterns, there can be/will be no consistency if I don’t accept things
won’t/might not be perfect all the time (because I’d rather not write than
write something that isn’t perfect.)
See, I told you they go together 😊
So this year I will try hard to do the things I love doing on a
consistent basis. And at the same time embrace that I won’t get it perfect all
the time, but accept and acknowledge that what I do write is good enough for
what I need it to do at that moment in time. Wish me luck!
Do you have a word of the year?
The other thing I wanted to talk about was my 20 for 20 List.
I love me a list so when I saw a 20 for 20 list on a post on
Pinterest I wanted to get involved. It does exactly what it says on the
tin; it’s a list of 20 things to see/do/accomplish in 2020. Here’s mine:
- OK not great as we’re starting with one that’s for my eye only 😉
- Visit Sark
- Have a spa day/afternoon
- Go for dinner with Ashley
- Give blood again
- Write my book (finally!)
- Digital detox in the evenings
- Handwriting practice
- Cook at home once a week
- Review finances
- Bake more often
- Go 2 months without spending on non-essential items
- Take a holiday
- Another one that’s just for me
- Ditto
- Read 32 books
- Make home-made ice-cream
- Write 100 facts about myself
- Complete a 30 day Instagram challenge
- Complete 2 projects at home
I reckon I stand a good chance of completing all of these and there’s a
nice mixture of fun stuff – hello spa day! – and not so fun stuff – Err, yes
number 12 I am looking at you right now! But overall I like what’s on the list
and if when I complete them all I'll have learnt a few things along
the way. What’s not to love?!?
Have you got a 20 for 20 list? Are you inspired to make one?
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