One Word For 2016

Oh my goodness… it’s 2016. Well… Happy New Year!!! It’s has been an interesting year, to say the least. As mentioned by many people on my social media feeds… there were some great moments in 2015 and not so great ones. If I had to summarize 2015 in 3 words, I would say… MESSY, DISCOVERY, and COURAGE.

January 1st is an opportunity to create anew, gather one’s thoughts, and make resolutions. It’s easy to become skeptical when resolutions are easily broken. With new intentions, we can create high expectations that may be too difficult to achieve. Instead, many are considering “One-Word” to focus on for the year.

One-word can set the bar high, but also lends itself to flexible outcomes. Last year, my “one-word” was COMPLETION. In my mind, it was about getting my dissertation done. Well, it’s not done… but what did get done was approval from my supervisors to proceed, developed my study details, got ethics approval, and collected data. Lots has been “completed” and now I am in the data analysis process.

I am miles ahead from where I was from at the beginning of 2015, I’m loving the process, and lots of other things aside from my dissertation were “completed.” Therefore, 2015 was an overall success. COMPLETION was a excellent mantra for me in 2015. It reminded me to celebrate the small successes, take action, and find closure where needed. Now it’s time to select a NEW “one-word” for 2016.

My one-word for 2016 is ALIGNMENT. Considering how 2015 unfolded, it’s time to “align” aspects of my life so that my passion, time, and expertise are directed towards a meaningful and purposeful direction. This is not to say that I am not doing things now that are purposeful or meaningful, but I am involved so many organizations, opportunities, and interests that I need to draw a line through all that I do.

This reminds me of my mentor and edu-superhero Dr. Geoff Madoc Jones. These rocks I picked up the other day on the beach look like a diagram Dr. Madoc-Jones drew for doctoral candidates a handful of years ago. He drew a circle with a skinny rectangle in the middle of it. He said that the rectangle is the dissertation. On one side of the rectangle is future research, the other side of it is bull-sh*t.

2016 is about establishing the boundaries of the skinny rectangle… in life. This metaphor can be easily transferable to my 2016 one-word: ALIGNMENT. What’s future work and future-self? And, what’s bull-sh*t? I love how this metaphor and image applies to my academic work, my personal life, and my professional life. What will guide me? Wholeheartedness, joy, love, vulnerability, and forgiveness.

Yup. It’s much like learning… math!!! Ok… I just had to say that. But really, it’s all about learning. I am learning. I am serving. I am happy. I shall not “should” myself to death. I will listen to what is working and what’s not. There is no failure, just lessons to learn from. I can’t wait for the rest of 2016. It’s going to be a BIG year and I’m stoked to see how this year will unfold. What’s going to be your “One-Word” for 2016?