In 2019 I was quite sick with endometriosis and spent much of the year in a lot of pain, in the hospital, and having surgery. I still had the best income year in 13 years of business. Once I was well again I thought, "that’s it! I will take on 2020! If I did as well as I did while I was sick, imagine how much I can make if I really put all my energy into it!"
I slipped into hustle mode. I was looking for flow, and I tried to force it. But when I force things, they don’t work. In fact, when I try to hustle, I break things!
I got on a call with a coach (because no matter how much you know, it is really hard to recognize your own stuff!!) to try to figure out why I was spinning out so much and it quickly became clear that it was time to surrender.
Surrender the need to know the how of everything.
Surrender the control.
Surrender the tendency to slip back in to hustle.
Surrender to flow.
So, I picked surrender as my 2021 word and tried to just let things happen a little bit more.
What happened - my income increased again (not quite to 2019 levels, but close) and even more importantly, I worked less. I spent more time with my family. I stressed less about what I should be doing. I did more of the kind of work that I loved. I ENJOYED the work I was doing more. It was a gift.
I like to pick a word for my year every year - I find that it helps remind me of what is really important to me. It helps guide my decisions and my direction. But honestly, by the end of the year I often barely remember what word I picked, and as I dig back to figure it out, I realize that it often just happened once I set the intention.
Last week I ran my Biz Accelerator members through a workshop on setting intentions for 2022 and I settled on my word for this coming year: Impact.
When I spent time thinking about what is important, how I want my business to grow, what feels meaningful and what I feel ready for - impact was clear. I want to share messages that help business owners see their potential and believe in themselves. I want to share messages that help people see how we’ve been set up to think we’re failing when we’re not. I want to help women who run businesses enjoy the success of their businesses. The beauty of the word impact is that I can do that through my work and beyond - and that it pushes me out of a whole lot of comfort zones when it comes to imposter syndrome and visibility.
If you’ve already picked YOUR word, I’d love to hear it. Hit reply and let me know.
If you haven’t and are looking for some tips on how to pick, here are some thoughts.
1 - I have a year in review workbook that will give you a lot of insight into what you want to focus on going into 2022. That exercise can really help.
2 - Spend some time on the following questions:
What have you found to be a regular roadblock in the last year? Are there things that get in the way from external sources, things you are frustrated that you don’t get done, things that you avoid, things that you wish were different? Look for themes of frustration.
Are there big themes in your business goals and the actions you want to take this year? Do you want to see yourself doing more of a certain kind of work? Now let's look for takeaways. Does anything need to change/ is there a clear desire that came up to focus on?
3. Make a list of words that you like - you can Google “word of the year” and there are all kinds of posts with 100s of suggestions. Try to come up with at least 10 that you like, then narrow it down to three, and then see if one can really encompass them all.
Setting intentions and gaining clarity on what you're building and growing can help take so much of the stress and overwhelm out of your business. I hope this exercise helped and that you've found a word that brings you joy. I can’t wait to hear all your words and I look forward to connecting with and supporting you in 2022!