Why I Chose a Word of the Year
A Note Before You Read
I wrote the post below several years ago, at a time when I was actively reshaping my mindset around money, health, discipline, and what was possible for my life.
I’m keeping this blog exactly as it was in case you need the lessons I was learning right now in your own life. I remember how badly I needed words like these when I was in that season. Maybe you’re in that place right now. Maybe you’re craving momentum. Maybe you’re tired of your own self-imposed glass ceilings.
While my business has evolved and my approach to goals has refined over time, the core truth still holds:
You don’t change your life by hoping it will change.
You change it by making different, better choices that serve you.
If you’ve been curious about my process for setting goals and choosing a Word of the Year, be sure to to check out my R+R worksheet and The Q Review inside my shop.
Now, on with the blog. It gets to serve as a time capsule of sorts, and I hope that it blesses your journey greatly.
xo,
Jessica 🍋
I’m so excited about the new year!
This year is a bit different from ones past, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it, but first let’s end the suspense…
My word of the year is breakthrough.
(We’ll get to the story behind the necklace in a second…)
I actually settled on my word of the year in the middle of December, and before I sat down to do any year-end review or planning ahead for the year to come. I had an overwhelming sense of needing to shake off the old and to do something different than I’d done before. Over the summer I’d already embraced a few new habits like visualizing every day, and reading non-fiction books on business and money. I mean, I’ve always done that but not with any real intention. Intention is everything!
As an aside, here are my book recommendations:
It’s Not About the Money by Bob Proctor
(recommended format: audio)Get Rich, Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield-Thomas
(recommended format: ebook - it’s on sale for $1.99 at the time of this writing)The Success Principles 10th Anniversary Edition
(recommended format: paperback)
I’ve had a lot of inspired thought since I started visualizing and reading with intention. I’ve also been studying a lot about the mind and energy—enough to make you think that I’ve gone right off the New Age deep end. 🔮 But I’ve noticed, now more than ever, that the lines have blurred between the way we thought of the divide between new-agey science and the stern rules of religion. Now, science and religion are sort of blending into a beautiful mosaic, and if we step back a little, we are able to see the entire picture.
“Why you think about, you bring about.”
I tried EFT, or tapping, from the advice I read in the book The Success Principles and completely cured my debilitating fear of flying. My husband hasn’t yet stopped marveling at how it was nothing short of a miracle. (To read that blog post, click here.) I’ve been using it lately to help with pain since I’m often in a lot of it. I’m not sure exactly why my bones hurt all the time (aside of a generic diagnosis of “inflammation”) but one of my affirmations for 2019 is to be PAIN FREE! If you’re reading this and you’re one of those people who starts aching when it rains, or when it’s late at night, who pushes through pain before caving to swallow three Advil, then I suggest you take a look at EFT/Tapping for pain relief. It may seem foreign and strange, but if it works, who cares?! There’s nothing worse than walking around hurting all the time.
I’ll just throw this in for your benefit:
Stop talking about the pain.
What you complain about you bring about, so start talking about feeling great and having abundant energy. It’ll help, I promise.
The Gift
Have I ever mentioned I’m married to the best guy on the planet?
This Christmas there was another Tiffany & Co. box beneath the tree, and it’s also the first year I stopped saying “I’m so spoiled” or “I don’t deserve it.”
Well, screw that.
I deserve nice things! That’s another mantra/affirmation I’m working on: Believing and accepting the good in my life and not worrying that it will all be stripped away and I’ll be left with nothing.
Who’s nodding their head with me? How many times have you heard yourself say, “You shouldn’t have” or “You don’t have to do that” when someone offers to buy you lunch or gives you a gift. Stop robbing yourself of the good things in life, and don't take your friend’s generosity and wad it up and throw it in their face.
Simply say, “Thank You.”
And remind yourself that you are fortunate to be loved.
When I opened my Tiffany & Co. blue bag there was a card inside proving that not only had John been paying attention to what I was talking about all through the month of December, but he truly understood my need for this particular word of the year. That’s what makes a strong marriage, people. Involvement. We’re far from perfect, but we do work on and try to accommodate each other as the years go by, and this was yet another example of how he totally “gets me” and how I’m with exactly the right person.
Anyway! I opened the blue sachet, I was thrilled if not a little teary-eyed. It was perfect. A rhino (with rose gold ears—my favorite color right now!) sat on a chain ready to help me barrel through the self-imposed barriers I’ve been setting up all these years. And they really are self-imposed. Those limitations you believe you have?
Total crap.
You can get over your fear of flying, be well again, and accomplish your dreams. You have to stop telling yourself the story of why you can’t.
It’s really that simple.
A few more things
My goals for the year are also different from last year in that I set only a few goals (five total!) and they all need a little work every day. They require habit and discipline, and will really never be “done.”
One of them is to do yoga three times a week.
Another is to limit alcohol to two times a week, maximum. I was going to go a whole year without but I could feel my inner rebel sitting up and giving me the finger and I knew it would be a fool’s game to go all or nothing. I can do it… but I just don’t want to.👩🏻🎤
Another new goal is to carry over the fantastic habit I started last summer and visualize every single day. My goal was to do it first thing in the morning, but life happens. Last night I visualized my ideal future at 9:25 PM, but you know what? I did it. Right after I did 30 minutes of yoga that I was “supposed” to do that afternoon.
“A new book or fresh planner won’t truly change your life—only you can do that.”
While method doesn’t make the total difference (a new book or fresh planner won’t truly change your life—only you can do that), I am absolutely in love with my planner. It’s essential because it helps me get everything out of my head and onto a sheet of paper, meaning there’s a lot less clutter clanking around in my mind.
When I’m done with my first task for the day (writing this blog, for example), I go to my planner and mark if off, then check what’s next. Usually it’s a word count that I need to meet for the day.
The takeaway
Someone recently said to me that they don’t set goals because they feel like a failure when they don’t achieve them. As much as I love to be agreeable, I had to be honest and say, “That’s a load of crap.”
(I said it lovingly, I promise.)
But seriously! What’s that even mean?! If I set a goal to do yoga three times a week and only do it once, have I failed? Or is it just part of the process of building a habit I don’t have right now?
BE BRAVE with your goals.
Write the memoir.
Take the class.
Book the flight.
Buy the book.
And above all:
TRUST. THE. PROCESS.
I love you.
It’s time You start loving you, too.
Let’s freaking do this!