What the word you’ll use to describe 2020?

Now, don’t switch off just yet.  This little exercise has had a massive impact on my business and I just want you to share in the love too!

Ok, just in case you’re thinking I’m going all wishy washy on you talking about 1 word to describe your coming year and 2020, let me tell you a bit of a story!

About 12 months ago now I was listening to a podcast and I can’t honestly say which one it was, although if I had to guess I would say more than likely Amy Porterfield’s podcast because I’m a HUGE Amy fan, and they were talking about choosing a word to describe your year.

Writing down all your goals, your hopes, your dreams, your BHAG, and then choosing 1 word that would describe all those goals, hopes, dreams that you could think of every day in your business.

I kind of thought at the time, 1 word, are you kidding me, how am I to think of one word to describe all that.

But in true Jenn fashion, the thought wouldn’t leave my head.

It was November 2018, I’d just left a business partnership and I was re-thinking all my decisions, all my business decisions.

I’d been coaching and teaching social media and marketing for almost 2 years already, but never really branded me, never really on my own and now I was TOTALLY on my own.

So, this podcast, this idea that I could have 1 word to describe what was pretty unknown for me, what 2019 was going to hold, because basically I was starting a brand new chapter and it was a Jenn Solo chapter, started to build in my head.

So, I asked myself these questions – what did I want 2019 to look like?  What impact did I want to make on the world in 2019?  I asked these questions over and over and over again.

And, as I discovered, within those questions, lay the answer.

Answers are often just in front of us aren’t they!

IMPACT.

IMPACT was my word.

Impact was why I started this podcast on January 1^st this year.

Impact was the reason why I took on my private coaching clients.

Impact was the reason why I hosted over 30 workshops this year.

If I was going to do this thing, build the Jenn Donovan brand, then by heck it was going to have an Impact – an impact on my listeners, clients, workshop attendees, and on me.

So, what’s your word?  In 2020, what will your word be?  How will you show up?

WHY CHOOSE A WORD OF THE YEAR?

If you’re new to the concept of choosing a word of the year, here’s  a few reasons why it could be useful for you.

• It helps to give you focus
• It allows for flexibility Ever feel like your goals change a lot over time, or you fail to meet a goal and then feel like it all goes out the window? It’s totally happened to me before. But by having a single word, you can adjust your goals over time, so long as they are in line with the focus word you choose at the beginning of the year.
• It’s easy to remember If you’re like me, type it up and print it out and put it in front of you, in your diary, wherever you look every day!
• It can unify your goals Generally, our goals are broad and cover all the different elements of our life, making it hard sometimes to use them as a criterion for making decisions. But by analysing your goals and then choosing a word that resonates across all of them, I find it makes it easier to define your approach for the year and guide any decisions you need to make.
• It makes it easier to review your achievements; ask yourself: ‘Does this (insert activity) reflect (insert your defining word here)?’.

CHOOSE YOUR WORD FOR 2020

So, are you ready? It’s TIME! Time to decide on your own word.  You might know straight away what you want your year’s word to be, it might be something on the tip of your tongue. Or, you might need a little help to develop some ideas, which is totally fine too. The beauty of the exercise is that there’s no pressure to know straight away. In fact, I give you permission to take your timmmmeeeee on this.

Step 1. Do a little brainstorm of words that come to your brain about the year to come.

Step 2. Then, if you want to, list some thoughts under the different areas on the sheet. We did these to help you but don’t feel free to completely fill them up straight away and leave any you don’t know.

Step 3. Finally, choose one word that you think unifies your thoughts across all your goals and write it down at the bottom. You might find that your chosen word relates to your strongest goals and not to all of them, and that’s ok, but the broader it is the more useful it will be.

So, what’s my word for 2020, well, honestly, I haven’t quite figured that out yet as I am in the middle of writing my new goals for 2020 and doing some planning.

But, the front runners are IMPACT again (because who said you couldn’t use the same one twice!), CONNECTION is another one, because I think networking, collaborations and connections will pay a huge part in my 2020 according to my goals and GROW is also a front runner!

I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours!  Seriously, though, I’d love for you.

What’s your word going to be?

Comment below.

Go on, inspire someone else with your thinking and your willingness to take charge of 2020.

I cannot wait to hear what it is!

Don’t forget to listen in to the Small Business Made Simple Podcast every week.  Simply to go www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/podcast and you’ll find the listen apps in there!