How are you feeling right now?
It’s been a challenging week here in the U.S. What has happened at the capital has been a lot for us all to take in.
And there is this huge shift happening in the world right now. The ground feels really unsteady beneath our feet.
In yoga, when you become unbalanced, if you look at movement, it only makes you more unstable. But if you focus on that which is stable, you can find your center again.
So, I encourage you this week to find your center. Whatever it is that grounds you. Whether that be a creative activity or music or dancing or yoga or sports or writing. It is okay to stay aware of the things around you but also focus on that which is good and stable for yourself.
Something that has helped to ground and center me is focusing on what is true. And what is true is that we are all human. We all want to feel smart, capable and good. We all want more joy and love and purpose. All of us.
I wanted to preface the rest of this chat with that because it’s been on my heart.
But what I also want to talk about today is 2021 goal-setting.
We just had Bucket List week in The Creative Commute community, where we talked about all the things we want to do in our lifetimes. There were some big and beautiful hopes and dreams shared.
But how do we get to those goals? It is vision boards? Goal setting? Action plans? Bullet journals? Words of the year? I’d love to know if you do any of these methods and what your favorite method is.
We can set goals and action steps all day, but if we don’t know why we want to get to those goals, we’ll be stuck.
I’ve been procrastinating. It’s a common challenge I face, and one lots of creatives face. We use all kinds of excuses to hold ourselves back from moving forward on the things we want to achieve.
The "how" is one of the mechanisms we often use.
I saw a video today where someone said the “How” is none of our business. That really struck me. First of all, what does that even mean? "The how is none of our business."
Don’t we need to know how? Isn’t that the point of setting a goal? To then step back on the how I will get to it?
That’s what we’ve been taught, right?
But then I was speaking to another person yesterday (she’s someone who mixes science and mysticism and I hope to get her on the podcast because her approach to how she thinks about things is definitely creative) but she pointed out something pretty profound.
Maps, guides, steps, action plans: These are all designed to help us find a way to traverse the unknown. They are human creations that help us get control over things. Because we want to be responsible, we want to have ownership, we want to think that we can set forth the path WE want to choose.
But what that has done is to force our thoughts outwardly. We’ve gone outside of ourselves, planning and detailing. If we had the perfect plan, we can finally get to where we want to go. Right?
Imagine if a flock of geese relied on a map to get to Canada in the winter, but they forgot it in Texas. Or if a flower relied on an action plan for how to bloom.
The goose and the flower don’t think about the perfect time to go. They haven’t stepped out their 2021 action plan into 5,000 preplanned steps that will get them where they need to go. That on May 1, it will be summer and they can fly north. Or on November 1, they should head to Mexico.
The rest of the natural world knows to trust the process of creation. They don’t try to control or plan. They know what they are to become, and so they become.
Now, am I saying we should all scrap our action plans and become flighty geese? Of course not. But there’s something here that I want to really explore for myself this year.
This discussion yesterday, the timing of it, and how profoundly this conversation hit me confirmed my word of the year.
Every year, I choose a word of the year. This will be my sixth year doing it.
In the past, I’ve chosen words like “Perseverance” “Challenge” and “Follow-through.” Those were good words. Strong words.
But in 2019 I really, really failed on Follow-through.
I’ve joked about that failure having to do with the fact that it’s actually a compound word, and so my 2019 accomplishments were doomed from the start.
Funny enough, out of all of the 6 years I’ve been doing this, the most follow-through I’ve had was my 2020 word “Delight.” I spoke about this in the final podcast of season 1, so if you want to hear more about that, go back and listen to that one.
But, in reality, the follow-through failure was actually a great success, because it forced me to reflect on why that word didn’t work for me. It didn’t work because I didn’t know WHY I wanted to follow through on things. I was setting goals and THEN expecting to do the hard work. When, really, there’s a bit of work that comes prior to the goal setting. I was skipping that step.
My coach pointed out to me the other day, she said, “Pandemic aside, could you have imagined your 2020 turning out as it did?” And I replied ,“Absolutely not.”
But I did start it out with a boatload of self-reflection, which guided my intention to find more joy in daily life. Which led me on a path where I discovered that I don’t have to FIND joy in the outside world. I find it within. That was unexpected – and I still have trouble trusting that it’s true.
I don’t quite understand the trust the geese have in the inner knowing. I don’t understand how the bee knows to build a perfect and beautiful hive for their queen and community to thrive in.
After reflecting, it really boils down to the fact that I have a trust issue with the universe. And so this year, my word is Trust.
There are many words that surround that word. Surrender being one of them. I’m not sure I’m ready to surrender. So this year, I will trust. Trust what comes. Trust myself. Trust others. Trust the process.
If you’re interested in exploring your word of the year, I am holding a Zoom call this upcoming Thursday. You can get the details by going to CreativeCommute.com and signing up for my emails.
If you take anything away from this podcast today, it’s this. You don’t always have to have everything figured out and perfectly planned. Your time is better spent going inside and exploring what your inner creator wants, needs, what it’s here on this planet to do. We’re going to have a podcast all about your inner creator here in a couple of weeks so stay tuned for that!
I do want to leave this episode with two actionable things you can do now.
Think about what you want, and create a phrase around that.
Right now, I want to enjoy my work and I want to feel confident in my abilities.
Mine for right now is “Every day, in every way, I find power and joy in my work.”
I will use that intention to guide me to better feelings in my everyday work, which will guide me to find overall joy in what I do every day.
And my overall word, trust, will anchor me in the fact that I can trust that this will happen.
Try this for yourself. What do you want? What phrase can you create around it?
Thank you again for being a Creative Commuter and investing in your own creativity. Together, we will create a movement of joy. If you enjoyed this podcast or got something from it, please let me know by leaving a review!
See you next time.