I've been listening to what Chris Brogan has to say for at least 8 years now. One thing Chris does consistently is to pick three words to guide his work and life for the coming year.
Three words. Way simpler than a vision statement or grand manifesto. Or is it?
I mean, if you're going to dedicate the entire year to focusing on only three words, they better be pretty good ones. Broad. Vibrant. Important. Talk about pressure!
I've never done this before, but I have been struggling with focus lately (some may say for a long time) so I decided to do the three words exercise this year. I need some direction and it's gotta come from inside me. So here goes. My three words:
Present. Open. Carnal. #
Oooh, deep! Let's break this down.
Present #
I have a really hard time living in the here and now. I'm either full of regret about the past or worried about the future. It's no fun, believe me.
When I'm working, walking or talking with friends, I will focus on the present. What I'm doing, seeing, hearing right now.
Where I am is much, much better than where I was or where I think I'll end up. So let's love what's happening around me now.
Open #
When I'm caught up inside my head, everyone suffers. I'm going to open up a lot this year.
I'll open myself up to truly listen to people. Their dreams, desires, problems and joys. I can better help people if I'm truly listening.
I'll share my hopes, dreams and challenges too and ask for help. There's no point putting on a strong face if I'm struggling with something. And there's no sense being afraid to say what I want to accomplish either.
I'll take a page from Austin Kleon and show my work. If I keep things bottled up till it's perfect I'll never ship anything.
Carnal #
Here's a word I picked up from Mary Karr. It's powerful. Possibly controversial. It's also perfect, so I'm using it.
The way she uses "carnal" it isn't referring to sex specifically. It's referring to experiencing the world and talking about it, using all one's senses.
That's what I'm going to do. When I write, I'm going to capture everything: the feel, smell, taste and sound of thing I'm describing
I'm going to capture the light and colour of the world around me when I paint
And when I travel, around town or around the world, I'm going to capture everything I experience as vividly as I possibly can.
Carnal is also a reminder to write the truth of what I see and experience. I often sand off the rough edges of whatever I'm describing so as to not offend anyone. I'm likely going to turn some people off with my writing this year. That's OK. I'm going to turn others on even more this way, I know it.
So there you have it. Three words that will get me out of my head and seeing things in bold, loud, smelly colour. I'm very excited about the year ahead.