Have you joined the One Word Challenge? Do you have your anchor word for 2021? Do you even know what I mean by ONE WORD? If not, that’s fine. I didn’t either until last year. When I started my business, I joined a mastermind group as a way of forcing accountability and structure into the business formation process. Mastermind groups offer a combination of support, referrals, training, and peer accountability in a group setting to sharpen one’s business and personal goals. My group is a collective of business owners and executives who meet every two weeks to discuss top of mind issues in our businesses, network with each other and complete a train the brain segment where the facilitator trains the members of how to become better business owners. The one word concept was introduced to me during one of the trainings. The challenge asks that we consider trading in our long list of New Year’s Resolutions that we won’t remember a few weeks from now anyway, and instead choose ONE WORD as an anchor to focus on every day of the year that will sum up who we want to be or how we want to live throughout that year.
One Word That Changed my Life in 2020
To find our one word, our Master Mind facilitator encourages us to read and reread the book: One Word that will change your life, and wait for your word to find you. The word that came to me in 2021 was OBEY. As a new business owner, I wanted to focus less on my intellectual side which had been perfectly honed for being an employee the past 20 years, and more on my instincts. My goal was to leverage the word “OBEDIENCE” to explore the concept of being a business owner, and it served me tremendously last year. As a result of OBEYING, I fully embraced myself as a business owner and sought out to find opportunities for business expansion, started my podcast, started this blog…and generally said “Yes” to opportunities as they were presented, as opposed to overthinking them. As a result, I had a much more fulfilling year last year, than any other year in the recent past. As much as 2020 was a year of turmoil for most of us, it was still very much a year of triumph for me in many areas, both personally and professionally. And I attribute this to the simple act of OBEYING my instincts.
My One Word for 2021
This year my word is DISCIPLINE. Discipline In the sense of imposing process, rigor, order, and continuous refinement into one’s behavior or approach towards anything you undertake. Finding my word took a little longer this year as I oscillated between the words “Flow”, “Legacy”, and “Discipline” for a number of weeks. I decided to settle on DISCIPLINE, as it ultimately resonated loudly with me. And of course, discipline in its proper application will inevitably enable one to find flow and contribute to developing one’s legacy.
How is it going?
We are only a week into 2021, and I’m convinced the right word indeed found me this year. The need for more discipline and rigor is something I’m seeing in every area of my life now, and therefore following suit to instil the appropriate level of discipline. Here are the number of ways discipline is showing up so far:
- Daily Routine: As a business owner, one can easily get pulled into many different directions where one expends time and energy on low value activities that end up distracting more than helping. So having a disciplined schedule is forcing me to prioritize how and where I spend my time, as well as tracking the return on investment on the time.
- Heath: I am choosing to prioritize my health through daily exercise, better diet, and adding supplements to improve my immune system and overall health.
- Business Processes: My goal for the business this year is to create a list of all my business processes, document the steps involved in each process, and leverage technology to automate manual activities where possible.
- Clients: As an advisor, I’m sharing best practices relating to business operations with my clients on an ongoing basis so that they may infuse some discipline into their businesses as well.
It’s still early in the year, and I can already see the rewards of my word, discipline, paying off through expansion in many areas. I am also experiencing less stress and feel more in control of my business and life. I can’t wait to The magic of one word!
So what is your word for 2021? Let me know your thoughts on the concept and please share your words in the comments as you get them. Happy 2021!
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