My Word for 2020
The practice of choosing a word as a theme for the year has become a trend in recent years. I have no idea who came up with the idea originally, but almost every podcaster and Instagram influencer I follow these days seems to have gotten behind it. Though I’m often a bit wary when it comes to trends, I think there is a reason why this one has resonated with so many, including me.
(Sorry, before I go any further I just had to show you this worried little otter. Has he not picked his word of the year yet? Did he lose his keys?! We’ll never know).
Why has choosing a word of the year become such a trend? Well, one main reason I can think of is that it’s way more fun than coming up with a list of resolutions. For example, rather than saying “This year I’m going to lose 10 pounds,” you could say, “This year my word is ‘active.’” It instantly reframes the goal from something that sounds hard and negative to something that sounds much more motivating and positive. The word “active” could not only mean exercising, but it could more broadly apply to all sorts of things, like choosing to take a weekend away once a month, or joining a volunteer group in your community, or playing with your kids more often. In all likelihood, a more “active” year may lead to losing some weight, but it also may lead to new friendships, experiences, and investment in your community.
A haphazard array of colored pencils meant to evoke a feeling of creativity… ;)
Now, this isn’t to say that I don’t think you should set goals. I LOVE setting goals. Planning the year and making goals is basically all I’ve been doing for the past two weeks. But, for me anyway, I’ve found that naming a word creates a reference point by which to evaluate your goals. It forces you to decide what is most important to you for the year, so that rather than comparing your goal with someone else’s, you can compare it with your word. For example, I might think it’s amazing that my friend has a goal of running a marathon this year. I mean, I like running, maybe I should try to run a marathon too! But training for a marathon would mean that I would probably need to devote almost every Saturday to running for at least 2-4 hours. While it would be a really incredible achievement to run a marathon, will doing one get me closer to what I’ve decided it most important to me this year?
Of course, you can certainly choose to set goals that don’t necessarily fit your “word” perfectly, but I think you get the point. By naming a word, it’s easier to be clearer about what goals you should be setting in the first place.
That is my hand.
Well, at long last, it’s about time I tell you my word for the year. It is… “Creativity!” You may be wondering, why does a full-time artist need to make “creativity” her word? Isn’t that just built in to what she already does? Well, on one level you’re absolutely right. There is a LOT of creativity built into my work automatically, from the literal creation process of painting to problem-solving in my business.
But, even when this is the case, it can be easy to fall into patterns that become the default without necessarily meaning for them too. I’ve noticed that, in the past couple years of working hard to get my business up and running, I’ve gotten a bit stuck in my own creative process. Though there is great value in forming methods and ways of doing things, I think it’s equally important to keep exploring new possibilities and making time for creativity that might not lead to an end “product.”
In short, I’ve gotten SO efficient and focused on being “productive” that I’ve not allowed as much time to simply play, and I’d like to change that.
So, here are three of the primary goals I’ve set for myself with the word “Creativity” in mind (I’m about to get real nerdy on you here, so get ready):
1 - Scheduling with Purpose
One of the biggest inhibitors of a creative practice is limited time. I often fall into the trap of not wanting to spend time doing something unless it’s going to yield a tangible result or check something off of my list. This means that “less productive” things like painting just for fun or doing pottery are often the first things to get pushed out of the schedule. So, if I want to prioritize creativity this year, that means I need to literally schedule time for it into my week. Since I can’t make more hours in my day, one helpful trick I’ve learned with scheduling is to create “hard boxes” and “soft boxes” around my time (props to my husband Dan for teaching me this tip)! Below is a screenshot of my calendar, what I’d like a “typical” week to look like. Ideally, the orange, dark purple, and pink times are my “hard boxes,” and the light purple and blue times are my “soft boxes.” I won’t go much more into scheduling right now, as I think that could be a blog post in itself (let me know if it should be!), but hopefully this gives you an idea of what I’ve been thinking about.
FYI - I’m never going to hit this schedule perfectly, but aiming for this at least gets me closer to what I’d like my week to look like!
2 - Creating New Income Streams
This is a super business-y way of saying that a goal I have in the coming months is to develop new products that can generate a bit of income without requiring as much of my time. The term for this is “passive income,” which for me might look like creating digital products or online courses. With passive income products, there’s usually a high investment of time on the front end, but once it is in the world you can earn money on it as it runs in the background. Brainstorming ways to do this for my business has been a creative practice all in itself! But my main goal is that, by having a few of these passive income products working in the background, I might be able to feel a bit freer to invest my time in more creative ways without the added financial pressure of making my time “productive.” (Hint: My new library of printable downloads are passive income products).
A subtle example of one of my “passive income” products.
3 - Trying New Subjects and Mediums
This goal is all about allowing myself to play! So, like I’ve just talked about, something that will really help me explore more ideas and try new things within my creative practice is to have time that is both designated (with “hard boxes” around it) and (ideally) paid for. I don’t totally know what this will look like yet, but I’ve had a desire to try new techniques with my main medium (watercolor) and try my hand at a few others, like acrylic, ink drawing, and pottery. Again, the main goal here is to turn off my “productivity” brain, and simply allow myself to explore. If nothing directly “profitable” comes from it, that’s totally ok! This is about investing in my own creativity by allowing room to make a lot of mistakes.
Painting on more walls is definitely a goal.
A few smaller goals and tweaks that I think will support these main goals include: taking care of my body with daily movement and a (mostly) healthy diet, spending time with friends, going on walks, writing / journaling often, and reading more.
Here’s to lots of time in my favorite painting spot this year!
I’d love to know, have you named a word for 2020? Do you have any scheduling hacks or other ideas that you’ve found helpful in following through on your goals? Let me know by sending me an email or leaving a comment below.
Wishing you an absolutely BEAUTIFUL year!