Three Words for (Most Of) 2013

You know how people make big, sweeping declarations before the new year? Well…I think that is boring. I mean, why make big promise about a new year at the beginning of the new year? Why not make it the second week of February? THAT is when real change actually happens!

So, my friend Carol picked out three words to inspire her through 2013 waaaay back in December when normal people starting thinking about the new year. When she wrote that entry I thought: I LOVE the simplicity of this idea! I will do it too! I started it immediately and finished it…YESTERDAY.

And two of my words are essentially synonyms.

But I am finally happy with my three words! I can apply them to my life for 11 months now!

INTENTIONAL

I would like to be more deliberate in my actions. More intentional. More focused on the action I’m doing and not just the action that needs to be done.

I’m the type of person that is constantly thinking about the next think I’ll be doing. I’m grocery shopping, thinking about what to cook for dinner. I’m showering, thinking about doing laundry. I’m putting up the kid’s clothes and thinking about what I’ll blog about. This causes me to SCREW UP EPICALLY. (Seriously…I have REALLY make some EPIC screw-ups trying to do one thing QUICKLY while thinking about the NEXT THING that I need to do!)

My Dad used to get really irritated with this tendency and actually did a great (albeit VERY unflattering) impersonation of me when I’m trying to do too many things at once. I need to keep that (terribly unflattering) impression in my head to remind me to focus on ONE ACTION AT A TIME. I can still have laundry going while I cook dinner, but I’m less likely to burn dinner if I’m not thinking about doing the laundry.

PRESENT

I want to be more present. This is in the same vein as being more intentional, but relates more to my mental focus as opposed to the focus of the actions themselves. There are so many times when I’m not trying to do 15 things at once, and I don’t savor those moments. I want to work on that. I want to really soak up those times when I don’t need to be thinking about the next task and really just soak up the experience that I’m living. Whether it’s breakfast with the kids or running with my friends, I want to always pause to recognize the gift of that experience…whatever it is. No matter what I’m doing, I want to take a moment to be IN the moment of that experience. I don’t want an entire day to pass me by and realize I never once stopped to think about any of the actual life I’m living during that day.

So, the subtle difference is that being intentional means not burning the dinner thinking about the laundry…being present means enjoying the opportunity to cook dinner in the first place. SEE! THEY ARE TOTALLY DIFFERENT WORDS!

EFFICIENT

I am very busy (have I ever mentioned that before?) but I often feel like I could be busier. Well, not really. I just mean I could manage things better if I were more efficient with my time. Why do I make a trip to the grocery story EVERY DAY? Can’t I think far enough ahead to maybe only do it every other day? Or – why don’t I carry the laundry upstairs when I go to watch TV? Part of this involves being intentional and thinking about what I’m doing to make sure I’m being efficient.

DO YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE? I used two of my words in ONE sentence! I’m so good at this.

But seriously. I wander around aimlessly in my house quite often. Forgetting what I’m doing or why I’m carrying 2 bras in my hand. I’ll go to put a dish in the sink and end up in the kitchen with the dish still in the bedroom. I just feel like my time could be better spent if I was just more efficient with it. Some days I’m awesome, I’ll cram in four errands on my lunch break. Other days I go home and goof off on Facebook for 40 minutes while the wet clothes sit for hours waiting to be dried.

So – I’d like to be more efficient with my time and energy by being intentional in my actions AND present in all of those tasks.

BOOM. Trifecta statement of purpose right there. BRING IT ON, ALMOST 11 MONTHS OF 2013!