Word of the year

I love new beginnings. Love, love, love them. A new beginning can be a new week (like in school), a new month (maybe a birthday month), a new year (yay!), or the next minute because that's what I decided will be my new beginning. In other words, any time can be a new beginning. There is no special power in a new week, or month, or year. To me it's just like a line in the sand and here is the point where XYZ changes. In my case I'm looking to get my side hustle up an running by New Year's Day. That's kind of my new beginning this year, finally, finally starting a side hustle - something I've wanted to do for years. 

It is also a good time to reflect on the past year. What worked. What didn't work. What could I improve. What do I need to change. Things like that. It's also a good time to set a focus for the year. Now keeping a focus for an entire year is difficult and I'm not great at it, but if I have a focus and some goals that I want to accomplish, that definitely tends to make the year a little better. I am a person that does well with goals - that's not completely true. I can let goals defeat me, but I'm working on changing that. I working on making my goals a reality.  

As I said in the last post, I think I was taking a message wrong. I was taking a message as you shouldn't have goals. You shouldn't do certain things because they undermine you mentally. I was taking that to mean I shouldn't have any goals or think certain things or certain ways. That I have discovered is BS. There are some things that I remember really working for me in the past, or at least I viewed them as working for me. One of them, that I haven't used in years and years, is a word of the year. I liked having a plan of what I wanted to accomplish for the year and then coming up with a word that would help keep me focused on those things. Now, I have to be careful with my goals because I tend to make ones that are impossible to reach and then I give up. So my goals will be kind of vague but measureable. They will also have deadlines attached to them but those deadlines will not be set in concrete. They will be a little flexible because one thing I've discovered over the years is life happens. So goals and deadlines, but flexible. That's the word. Flexible. Wait, is it the word? Flexible. I need to think this through. 

Flexible --

• able to be easily modified to respond to altered circumstances or conditions.
• ready and able to change so as to adapt to different circumstances.

Oh, I like this. I like this a lot. I will need to be flexible this year. I'm starting a business and that road is never smooth. I need to be flexible with my time. Since I'm still working I will need to devote time to work and to my business. I'm also still working for Johns Hopkins, but that is only until March. I will need to be flexible with my time. I will need to be flexible with what I do. I may want to do X but have to do Y because that's what needs to be done. I will need to be flexible with what I hope to accomplish in a day, a week, a month, etc. I will need to be flexible with my workouts - because those are definitely taking center stage this year. I think I love this word. I think I have found my word.


Let's see how this might play out in my life. I will have goals, I'm thinking weekly goals so that I have a little flexability in when they get done.


Goals:
Business: Post 3 times a week on Facebook and Instagram about what I've made recently. Create something new every week.
Workouts: 3 gym visits, Supernatural 3-4 times. Walk Mavy every day.
Work: Planning done for the week in advance (may have to go back to going in on Fridays, unless I can talk Hubby into going in on Saturdays - that would be awesome). Grading done within 1 week.


So I can have these goals, but be flexible about when they are done. If I have time on a Monday night to create something - do it. If I don't have time until the weekend - that's all good too. I like this. I like this a lot. I'm going to let it sit for a bit. Make sure it works for me, but I think this is it. Once I am 100% sure of the word, I'm going to engrave it in wood (with the definitions) and hang it over my desk here so I can look at it every single day. For now, I'm going to write the word on a piece of paper and hang it there to see how it works for me. Oh, I'm excited about this word. I love it. It completely embodies how I want to live my life, with flexibility and equanimity.