If you know me well, then you know that I am obsessed with goal setting. My husband jokes that I do more goal setting than actual “doing”… and he might just be right, considering last year’s goals were 3 pages long 😐

I’ve learned a lot about myself this past year and one of the things that stood out to me most is discovering that I have a “planner personality.” I love to plan. Which is great…but not so great because that means execution of my plans is not my forte. Thus, it makes sense that I love setting new goals for myself but doing the work to accomplish those goals…well that’s a whole other ball game.

Since I’ve come to realize this tendency of mine, it’s helped me achieve a lot more. Instead of spending my whole days planning what I’ll do, I spend 5-10 minutes each day setting out specific actions and then actually doing them (most of the time). You can read more about how I’ve improved my goal achievement this year in this post.

Anyway, today’s post is not suppose to be about planning or goal setting specifically, it’s suppose to be about setting up intentions using a theme for the year ahead.

Now don’t get me wrong, I will definitely be setting some goals, but finding a word or theme for next year I think will really help give me some direction and make my goals a lot more specific which = more achievable.

 Choosing a theme for 2018 turned out to be a little bit harder than I imagined. I’ve been hearing a lot about choosing 1 word to set up your theme so I decided to go with that.

So, my word for 2018 is…

Ok, I couldn’t choose just one word. I know, I’m terrible. But I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and there have been 2 words that keep coming up for me and I just can’t choose between them – so I am choosing both of them, because I can 😉

So my words are….

Abundance and Surrender

You will see that these two words actually go hand in hand. Let me explain why they are going to shape my 2018:

Abundance: 

[noun] a very large quantity of something.

Abundance to me is a way of living. It’s a way of living that I’ve never really thought about until this year. Through a lot of reading and podcast listening, I’ve learned that my natural tendencies are to live from a place of scarcity. A place where there is never enough to go around, where you need to hoard and keep to yourself.

This doesn’t seem like a very nice place to live does it?

But we all do it. Think about how many times you’ve heard someone say or said yourself “I can’t do xyz because I don’t have enough time or money.” “I’m not going to tell xyz about this opportunity, they’re my competitor!” “I need to finish eating all of this cake tonight, because xyz might come home and eat it later.” “I need to make sure I hide extra of xyz, so there will be enough for me.” etc., etc. 

It’s crazy how many times I’ve caught myself saying these things! But the truth is, there is MORE than enough of EVERYTHING to go around. And once you realize this and actually start believing it, your world will turn upside down!

No more anxiety about money

No more anxiety about food running out

No more anxiety about what your competitors or coworkers are doing

No more anxiety about running out of wine…well, maybe not that one.

“When you come from a place of abundance, you can give freely knowing that what you put out will return to you 10-fold in some way. It’s just the way the universe works.”

I’ve heard this over and over again and every time I live it, it works! So this year, I plan on living from a place of abundance. I am going to think big, to be big, to achieve big.

Wish me luck 😉

Surrender:

[verb] abandon oneself entirely to (a powerful emotion or influence); give in to.

As a planner, I’m naturally a control freak. And turns out being a control freak really ends up biting you in the ass. 

Trying to control your every move and those around you does nothing but upset yourself. It’s impossible to control everything, so why not just give in? Stop controlling and let a higher power take over (because really, they are going to anyways right?).

“Surrendering, to me, means letting go.”

Letting go of the control you think you have. Believing in a higher power whether it’s the universe or a God will let you live your life and enjoy it, knowing that everything has a purpose and is happening for a reason. Once you can accept that, you have no choice but to feel relieved.

Letting go of control is so freeing and in the long run, it will serve you better than anything. You see, once you let go and live from a place of abundance, the universe will reward you with exactly what you need. No need for you to overthink it. 

I know what you’re thinking, this sounds a bit “woo-woo” but please trust me on this. I wouldn’t be writing about it if I didn’t truly believe it could change your life.

So now you can see how these two words are so important and why I want them to shape my 2018.

“I’ve come to a huge realization that my control tendencies are not serving me and that having a scarcity mindset is the quickest path to failure and solidarity.”

Choosing to live with an abundance mindset doesn’t mean blowing all your money on things you like but don’t need. It means not denying yourself the things you truly want or that are going to add meaning to your life knowing that the money and/or time will come back to you in some form. This can look like going on a trip with friends you’ve been putting off forever, investing in that coaching course you’ve been wanting to do for years, or buying that special gift for your friend they’ve been talking about for ages. It will feel good, you’ll be glad you did it and the positive vibes will echo in other areas of your life.

Choosing to surrender doesn’t mean giving up on everything you’ve worked for either or just “hoping for the best”, it means letting go of circumstances, people, and emotions that you have no control over or that are holding you back.

“You can’t change the weather or how your boss or friends are going to react, but what you can control is the power you give to those things.”

When you come from a place of surrender, you no longer have expectations or give power to things you cannot control and thus, it is much easier to have a more positive, easy-going outlook on life. 

All in all, I’m anticipating 2018 to be my best year yet. I am surrendering by opening doors to allow all sorts of new opportunities in and knowing that every challenge and every win is happening for a reason. I am changing my mindset from “there isn’t enough to go around” to “there is more than enough to go around” and sharing that with everyone around me. 

I truly hope this post has inspired you to choose your word (or words) for 2018. And if you do, please feel free to share. I would love to know what 2018 has in store for you!

xoxo