I stopped doing New Years resolutions many years ago when I noticed that I had the best of intentions when the year started, but that eventually all of my resolutions would become broken promises.
Wanting to build trust with myself instead of starting the year breaking promises to myself, and the fact that I’m always trying to improve some aspect of my business or life in the middle of the year anyway, led me to stop making new years resolutions.
And then I came across Chris Brogan’s “My Three Words” idea. Essentially, instead of resolutions you create three words to guide your actions for the year.
So while resolutions often involve one task, like “start running for ten minutes each morning,” a word can provide general motivation. For instance, say one of your three words for 2020 is “Move.” You can start encompassing Move into your life in January by running for ten minutes each day, but what if you get a knee injury and can’t run anymore? You can still fulfill the intention of your three words by swimming instead. Or if you start exercising late in the year, it’s still a win because the Three Words serve as intentions instead of promises.
You can learn more about creating your Three Words on Chris’s blog: https://chrisbrogan.com/3words2020/. One of the best tips I can give you is that after you decide on your three words, place a reminder of those words somewhere accessible. I’m writing my three words in my planner each day.
My three words for 2020 are:
Abundance
Fun
Track
Abundance: For the past 2 years I’ve been pretty insular, spending a lot of time protecting myself instead of connecting and supporting. During 2020 I’ll be looking for ways to see life and experience life with abundance instead of scarcity.
Fun: Certain cultures think adults shouldn’t have fun, as if having fun means forgoing responsibility and regressing into childhood. I don’t agree. I don’t think life is all about suffering. And yet, I don’t have a whole lot of “fun.”
For instance, when I was trying to learn ukulele I was doing finger exercises, and practicing one song over and over again, etc., but I wasn’t really having “fun.” This year I want to do more thing for the sake of enjoyment rather than achievement.
Track: For my third word I had trouble deciding between Move and Focus. So I chose a word that relates to both concepts – Track! I like how that word suggests momentum and continued intention.
I usually don’t combine two intentions into one word because I’m afraid it dilutes the intention, but I really couldn’t choose. So this year I want to exercise more, and track my movements (I’m using my new planner, the Full Focus Planner, to track the Move habits I’m trying to start). I am also starting a new service, and I’ll be focusing a lot of my efforts in the first half of the year on bringing in new clients for this new service, so I’ll be tracking my achievements and focusing on a few marketing tactics instead of trying to do everything.
Now over to you. I’d love to know what your three words will be in 2020!
