Something I've been doing for quite a few years now is choosing a word to work into my life for a year. Some years I choose it and then forget it, some years it ends up being more prominent. Last year was the first year I did Ali Edwards One Little Word and that really changed my relationship with my word. Truth be told I only completed 1/3 of the prompts but that was enough to help me live mindfully in 2017.
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This project helped me incorporate my word into my everyday life. It allowed me to work long enough with it that Mindful naturally became an important thought for me each day! This year, my word for 2018 came to me rather early. I chose Authentic because, during my mindful journey, I began to develop beliefs and to see my current beliefs evolve & change. I realized that in some ways I was deceiving myself by believing one thing but taking no action towards it in my life. In fact, the 7 of Swords showed up rather early in 2017 and that is what inspired me to choose the word Authentic. I especially love the 7 of Swords in the After Tarot because it shows self deception! You think you're getting away with something....but you're gonna get tripped up!
I do hope to do a blog post on my word, but this post is not that post! Today I want to share with you a journaling activity through January that can help you to discover your word of the year and take action towards it.
What is January Journaling Jump Start?
JJJS is a 4 week, 28 day long prompt a day journaling project designed to help you find your word of the year. This doesn't have to be done in January either. Any time is a great time to change it up and get focused!
Like I mentioned earlier, your word for the year should be something you actively incorporate into your life. 2017 was the first year I did that and it was great! But finding ways to do so...or even finding a word that resonates with you can be hard. The way I find my words is through a little bit of mental reflection on who I am and where I want to be. I focus on how I want to feel in the coming year. Personally, I don't focus on something physically I can gain - a new house, a new car, a new waistline....etc. Focusing on how we want to feel is the best way, I think, to make sure we can shift our thinking and in turn achieve our goals. So this journaling activity is designed to help you reflect, plan, research, and then set actionable goals in three areas of your life!
The second week is about planning. Where do you want to see improvement this year? What inspired you last year? What do you want to embrace in 2018? What do you want to release? Discover the best you that you can be in 2018 and make a plan to get there.
The third week is about inspiration & research. Find quotes that inspire you & words you'd like to use to describe yourself. Pinterest is a great way to find amazing quotes. I start a board full of quotes that inspire me as I try to decide on my word. At the end of this week you can look at your quotes & start to see a pattern. What word can sum up these quotes?
In the last week, begin to outline how you'll incorporate the word you've discovered in the three improvement areas you chose the second week! Finally begin to make weekly action steps so that you can incorporate your word into your daily life.
How can I get started?
While this is not a group challenge with a community behind it - honestly, I've never really felt those accountability groups helped me...they always made me feel less than for not doing things on time or in a certain way - I encourage you to download the journaling cards & the weekly planner layout below.
If you're down for something like a mini album, go ahead and do that! Use the journaling cards in any pocket albums you do or do what I'm doing - working in my new vision planner. I am currently using a Happy Planner size pages for my vision planner (about 7 x 9 inches) this year. I assembled some printed graph paper on Mini Happy Planner discs and put it in Websters Pages Composition planner cover. I also threw in some of the happy planner pocket pages because that's how I like to do my OLW stuff too. Doing a journaling activity like this, I think, is best done on planner pages so that you have them all together. Print out the weekly planner pages, date them, and get your word jump started!
You don't have to follow this up with another Word of the Year project, but I'd highly suggest it. I plan on doing One Little Word again this year even if I only complete 3 months worth of prompts! I do hope you are able to find a word this year that will help you. Make sure to follow along on Instagram as I share with you how I've filled out the January Journaling Jump Start prompts! Join the Five Sixteenths | Live Creatively group for more journaling inspiration.
What word did you choose? How do you incorporate it into your daily life?
xoxo, Moe
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