New Year! New Start? The changing of the year usually prompts us into taking resolutions to become our best version. As if, just changing a number was enough to make a clean break with our past.
It’s a new year! Let’s forget about everything we were, we did last year and let’s start from scratch! This year, I’m gonna hit the gym more often, I’m gonna eat healthy, I’m gonna start yoga, I’m gonna be the next girl (or guy) I follow on Instagram (or TikTok)... And this is how, full of good will and motivations, you start drafting a to-do list with all your resolutions. A to-do list that, to really be honest with yourself, you will stop following let’s say, starting from the end of January for the most optimistic forecast.
And it feels a bit frustrating, right? What to do instead in order to make the most of this fresh new year, which acts as blank canva?
In this article, I will:
explain you the pretty simple methodology I have been following the past years;
tell you what were my goals for 2022 and how well I managed, or not, to reach them;
give you an insight to my intentions for 2023; and
talk about the concept of “the word of the year” and why I prefer it to an endless to-do of good year resolutions.
A simple methodology…
Before I came back to France and started to concretise it a bit more, at the end of each year, I had a very simple and quick ritual I liked to do at night during the last days of the year.
First, I would thank the ending year for the opportunities, the moments, good and bad, and the lessons it taught me.
Then, I would underline what I liked, why, what I didn’t like, why, where I did well and where I should try to improve.
And, finally, I would put my intentions for the coming year and list all the things I wanted to achieve during that year.
At the end of my last year in Turkey, as I knew that 2021 would be pivotal for me, I started to use a more constructed template. I needed to know where I was and where I was heading even if nothing worked as planned.
End of 2021, after 6 months in France and having a better understanding of my new environment, I followed the simple prompts sent at that time by a fellow entrepreneur, Maika, in her Sweet Words weekly newsletter.
I used the following framework:
In the “Category” part you can list whatever point you feel is important for you to assess and to develop for the coming year.
As an entrepreneur, mine is more business oriented, but you can also add more personal points.
To complete this framework, I also work on my word of the year which will cover and the professional aspect of my life and the personal one. I will tell you more about it a bit later.
Then, from year to year, you will be able to compare what you really managed to achieve against your objectives. That way, you will see what worked, what didn’t, what actions would need more time, the ones it’s better to cancel or postpone…
When you work on your objectives, try not to be too ambitious. With the start of a new year, we have the impression to have grown wings. Always leave room for the unexpected. We would have already knew it if life was a long quiet river…
For that, use the following method, the SMART method when working on your objectives:
S: Specific
M: Measurable
A: Attainable
R: Relevant
T: Timely
2022 in review...
Now that you had a glimpse on my methodology, let’s review my year 2022.
Word of the Year 2022
CONCRETISE
Objectives for 2022
Objectives for 2022 vs reality
With this comparison table, I can identify where I performed well and where I would need to focus my efforts on for the next year.
2022 in a nutshell:
I am quite proud of myself regarding the Working Hours category. Having managed to balance my schedule to have time to deal with my other projects is a big 2022 win.
The performance of My Fashion Stories Box Podcast is also a good surprise and I am very proud of it.
My Revenue Goals are not that bad. I was maybe a bit too ambitious. But, if you want to touch the Moon, reach for the stars, right?
I need to be more regular and proactive into promoting my offers though to find new clients.
Overall, I managed to concretise my projects in 2022, as well as my new status in France. Thus, I was in line with my Word of the Year 2022.
Intentions for 2023...
Word of the Year 2023
TRANSMISSION
Objectives for 2023
These will be the main axis of development for 2023. I tried to stay realistic in my forecasts. 2022 wasn’t an easy year for the world and 2023 won’t be either. I want to strengthen my back.
I kept the same objectives for the Revenue Goals and the Working Hours categories as for last year as these are the 2 main points I really want to stabilise.
I also want to focus on the development of my podcast, My Fashion Stories Box, as well as on fashion history in general, all in line with the Word of the Year 2023, Transmission.
My Word of the Year 2023: Transmission
In the introduction of this article, I told you I wasn’t really sure about the efficiency of New Year resolutions with their accompanying to-do lists. Instead, I prefer to work on giving a general direction which will guide my actions throughout the year.
I did it for 2022 and I found it more rewarding, more inspiring, more motivating and less stressful than a list written somewhere.
In 2022, my Word of the Year was CONCRETISE. In 2023, my Word of the Year is TRANSMISSION.
Before explaining you what this word “Transmission” means to me and how I plan to have it reflected in my actions throughout 2023, let me explain you how I ended choosing this word.
Choosing your Word of the Year…
I am not a life coach and the following methodology is just a sum-up of different methodologies I’ve been trying. It works for me. However, feel free to adapt it to you. it’s not a “one size fits all” concept.
Step 1: Unconscious scan
At the end of each year, usually starting from December, I unconsciously start a year review, and from a professional point of view and from a personal point of view. I also start thinking about what I would like to achieve, and professionally and personally, in the coming year.
It’s just thoughts at this stage. I really let the impressions, the thoughts, the emotions coming to me.
Usually, after that, in a diffuse way, I already have an idea for my next Word of the Year.
Step 2: Year review
Then, I sit down, take a piece of paper and a pen (I’m a bit old school) and focus on answering the following questions:
What were the most important moments of the year?
What worked for me? Why?
What didn’t work for me? Why?
Step 3: Intentions for the coming year
After my year review, I start visualising the coming year by answering these questions:
What kind of experiences do I want to live in the coming year? What kind of contributions do I want to make?
How do I want to feel?
What would be the kind of events, actions I would do or live which would help me to tell “Yes, this year was a great year”?
What would be the projects I would like to realise during the coming year?
What kind of activities could I do to make me feel better?
What could I do to take better care of myself, and physically and mentally?
What kind of human do I want to be?
Step 4: Determining your Word of the Year
Then, by reading your answers to the above questions, look at keywords, look at key concepts which repeat themselves.
See how they resonate in you, how they correspond with your values, with your own missions.
Look up at their definitions on a dictionary and see how they talk to you.
Choose the word which makes more sense for you, which has more resonance in you.
See what this word means to you, how it already expresses itself in your life, what kind of actions it will inspire you to do during the coming year.
Transmission, what does this word mean to me…
Transmission is a concept conveying an idea of continuity between people, between generations. It also encompasses an idea of sharing.
For me, transmission is about going towards the others, contributing, exchanging. It’s about knowledge, know-how to learn, to develop, to improve and to pass along.
There is a notion of movement. It’s not static. We need to be active, proactive even.
When I think about this word, I see a link going through people, a sort of fluid crossing everybody from one direction to the other. Everybody is at the same time transmitter and receiver.
Transmission is a concept, an attitude which is already part of my life. I teach. I used to teach French, thus transmitting my knowledge of the language. I am now teaching in a fashion school where I share with my students my knowledge on marketing, my passion for fashion history.
I also transmit my knowledge and passion on my blog, through my podcast. These are actions I will go on during the year.
This year, in 2023, transmission will also be reflected in the mission I chose to preserve know-how, traditions which are slowly disappearing, especially in the fashion industry. I will focus on a local know-how linked with the Touraine headpiece, the lacemaking and the embroidery. It will also be about stories, old stories, fashion stories, the small hands behind the fashion industry and, of course, fashion history…
Well, I hope you liked this article and you found it interesting to discover a bit more about my year review process and my intentions.
Do you have a Word of the Year yet? Do you plan to work on one? If not, why? If yes, share your word with me and what this word means to you: I really curious 🙂
See you soon!
Cath @MyMarketingToolbox