I have never chosen a “theme” or a “word” for the year before. In fact, I hadn’t really thought about it even though “everyone” was doing it. In December, however, I attended a Savvy Woman Christian Business Network meeting in Richland, WA and participated in an exercise to help each attendee focus for 2020. The facilitator, Shannon Spencer, gave us each a page with a bunch of action words and thought-provoking words. She invited us to think about how we want 2020 to unfold. This exercise is not about New Year’s Resolutions; it’s about choosing a focus and a centering point to help you when your world gets out of hand or goes in a direction you did not plan to pursue. Shannon guided us through some thought approaches.
One person chose the word “value” for her theme. How does she bring value? How does she receive value? Is the current choice creating value? Another chose “intentional.” She will make choices and actions from an intentional perspective in order to create the 2020 she wants. Another chose “believe.” She chooses to believe in herself, her potential, her ability to grow her business, her ability to help others, and that things will become as wonderful as she envisions.
As I thought about 2020, the word that came to my mind wasn’t
on the list Shannon gave us. It’s still the word that means 2020 to me: BUILD.
For me 2020 will be all about building:
- Myself
- My clients
- My friends
- My husband
- My husband’s ability to have time to build his
dreams (I support him as he plans, I don’t actually create time) - My children
- My business
- Workshops
- Website
- At least one podcast
- A YouTube channel
- E-mail autoresponders
- My newsletter
- Messaging bots
- Swag
- Journals to go along with my coaching and
consulting - Speaker reels
- Workbooks
- Free gifts on my website
- Books for publication
- Blogs (at least two separate blogs)
- Network connections with real relationships, not
just business cards - Referrals TO and FROM others
- Facebook communities
- My community
- TED talks
- On and on and on….
As I thought on how I can build the world around me from the
inside out and how I can help others build their worlds as they envision them, I
got excited. Perhaps the most fun thing about this activity is the tie it has
to last week’s newsletter about life purpose. My life’s purpose is to enthusiastically
encourage, empower, and enable people to be their best selves at work and at
home. I get to build my community, and other communities, one person, one
family, one team, one organization at a time. All those who have been built up
then get to go out and build everyone around them.
Your theme word for this year might not be “build,” but I
invite you to consider how you want to focus yourself this year. How do you
want to focus teams that you influence? The team might be your family at home, a
team at work, or a team in the community outside of work and family. The team
might be you and your significant other. How will YOU focus yourself to create
the 2020 that you want to create? How will you affect the world around you by focusing
yourself?
I would love to hear your thoughts, experiences, and
suggestions. In addition to how you will focus yourself and your personal
growth, share with me how I may best help you and your organizations. I want to
build you. I want to build your organization. I want to help you and those
around you build on strengths that you may or may not recognize in order to
reach an alignment that is profitable for YOU.