Happy New Year!
For the last few years, instead of creating a list of resolutions that I am sure to break in record time, I have selected one word as my anchor and focus for the coming year. Last year, my word was Reach.
The Year of Reach
Reach seemed like a good idea at the time. I was going to spend 2019 reaching for my goals. Reaching outside of my comfort zone. Reaching for the stars or something like that. For the most part, I did. I reached for all kinds of things. I reached. And reached. And reached. As I was reaching, I learned that when you reach, you also stretch. And when you reach too far or for too much, you get over stretched. That was my year of reach. I was over-stretched, spread too thin and that left me out of shape, both mentally and physically. (I really did not intend to reach for 20 extra pounds but what can you do.) So, this year I wanted to find a word that would build on the good things I reached for and incorporate all I learned in 2019. But I also needed one that would remind me of reaching for the important things and what happens if you reach for too much. So, I tried a few words on for size. I tried, happy, joy, and even strong, but none of them really fit what I was looking for. None of them seem right. Then, as I stood in my house surrounded by stuff and thinking of all the things I had to do, it hit me. I don’t need more of anything. I need LESS.
The Year of Less
Welcome to 2020. My year of less. My goal this year is to focus on less so I can do more.
The Goals
Here are my goals for the Year of Less.
- Purge the crap – Remove things from my life that cause clutter and are not essential. That includes everything from materials things to mental things to edible things. I have too much stuff to deal with. It is time for the extra and unnecessary things to go.
- Focus on the important – Getting ride of the extra stuff will help me focus on the important things. When I have less to focus on I will have more energy to dedicate to the important things.
- Stop ruminating – Worrying and stressing about…well, everything, has not been productive. I need to stop that. Less worry. Less stress.
I could keep listing all of the ways I want to embrace less but these three sum it up pretty well.
Getting Started
To get me ready for the year of less, I spent time on New Year’s Eve day unsubscribing from a ton of email lists. Oh my, that felt good. I even emptied out a junk drawer and threw out the broken toys that have lived there for the past 10 years. I’m not gonna lie. It felt good. This less thing might really work.
I also started reading the book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. I listen to him talk about Essentialism and the art of saying “no” on a Tim Ferriss podcast early last year. As a chronic people pleaser, his message really struck a chord with me. Through all the craziness of last year, my brain kept retreating back to his message. He stressed the importance of saying no to the nonessentials so you can focus on what is essential to you. Yes! With the help of Mr. McKeown and some of my favorite accountability partners (you know who you are) I hope to do exactly that!
So, here we go. The Year of Less! I’ll blog my progress over the year so stay tuned!
What is your word for this year?