I am getting started a little late in January with a theme for the year, but better late than never. Life doesn’t always allow us to hit our personal targets each time, but as long as progress is being made, we’re headed in the right direction. 

I wanted to talk about how important it is to have a motto or inspiring word for the year. It’s really a motto or mantra to carry you through the year and keep you on track with your goals. Maybe you have been wanting to grow your business or perhaps keep your home more organized. The words “work first”, “growth” or “everything in its place” might be your theme.

This year my word is “consistency”. I am great at the big start and stops. It’s in my nature to go all in and then wear myself out. So I’m going to slow down, take my time, re-establish routines and be consistent with the ways I will grow my businesses and keep up with my home. For example, I want to establish new documents and graphics to show my design clients the process I go through when I work on their projects. I think it will help to demystify the design process by showing the steps I take. I have noticed that I can’t assume my clients know how it all works and it can be challenging to get new clients if they have no idea what I do and how I do it. So my plan is to create some collateral to show how it all breaks down.

In order to do this I will need to be consistent about working on this each day/week in order to make headway. It’s not a top priority project like a client job or a family obligation. I could easily keep blowing it off and thinking of it as an “I will do that someday” item. But, this year I want to be able to push those projects and ideas forward more quickly. So, I need to break it down into smaller steps and spend time each day on small chunks of these larger projects.

The same goes for household organizing, event planning, side hustles, or meal planning. If you want to make progress in these areas it takes consistency to put it into place and keep it up.

What will your word be for 2019? Perhaps you already have one now that we are halfway through the month of January. If not, start brainstorming and thinking of what you think might help keep you on track and be a mental reminder as you go through the new year. It can be one word or a phrase that keeps you reaching towards your goals and keeps you motivated.

It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently.        – Tony Robbins