A very good friend and colleague recently shared that she would be choosing two words to define the year. These would be words that represented what she hoped to make 2016—words to cling to in the face of struggle, adversity, and challenge. Words to motivate and encourage, and to keep her on track.
When I decided to take on the same mission I found my own words come to mind almost immediately: Positivity and Fearlessness. These would be the words that made up my 2016. Positive thinking would dominate my days, and every time I felt an “I can’t do this” or “I’m not good enough” creep into my head, I’d crush it with positivity, telling myself that in fact I can do this and I am good enough, and not only that, but I have all the tools I need to achieve my goals–it’s just a matter of making it happen. And each time I felt the crushing weight of stress, a head overwhelmed with too many “to-dos” and not enough balance, I would fight the cloudiness with a vision for my future, and move head first towards every single thing I wanted. I would not let fear of the unknown stop me, nor would I let the fear of becoming a failure get in my way. The imagined obstacles of my mind’s creation would no longer stand between me and my dreams.
Only a few days into this exercise and I can already feel a shift. Slowly but surely I can feel my outlook and in turn, my outcomes changing. I encourage you to find two words to define your 2016—the kind of year, the kind of life that you want to lead. What would those two words be?