Selecting my motivational word for 2019

Have you made plans for the new year yet?  More than likely you answered yes.  Setting goals are part of starting fresh each year.  Sadly our goals get sidetracked or forgotten as time passes.  I have found the best way for me to stay motivated is to select one word that encompasses the entire list I have planned out.  How can one word do all that?  I’ll tell you.

Make your list

Get out some paper and write down all the things you want to accomplish in the next year.  Even if it’s not a specific action a general idea, or feeling is helpful.  How do you want to feel about what you are doing, where you are at emotionally, physically, even spiritually.  Get everything that crosses your mind out onto that paper.

Find a common theme

There is usually an underlying theme that becomes evident when you look at your list.  My list included education for my children.  Growing my farm.  Adding a new family member.  Developing better bible study habits.  Helping my business find a better direction.  You get the idea.  What is my common theme? All these things are going to require time, effort, action and attention.  They won’t just happen on their own and they definitely won’t be completed quickly.  All of them are going to require consistent tending.

Select your motivational word

Now that you know the one main idea that encompasses your direction find the word that best fits that definition.  I search through the dictionary and thesaurus for ideas.  Although grow, develop, pursue, and a few other words were in my short list of contenders ultimately I found the word cultivate to fully encompass my plans.  The definition provided by dictionary.com  really described the feeling I had.  It explained it as this:

     “To promote or inprove the growth of ( a plant, crop, etc.) by labor and attention.”

That was it exactly!  I know it is going to take work to achieve all that I set out to do this year.  It’s starting with seeds of possibilities and through my labor and attention good things will grow.  Keep in mind that you may need to frequent this list to remind yourself of your plans but having that one little word makes a world of difference.  It sums up what could be pages of feelings, ideas, goals and plans into one reminder.  A motivator to continue the course.

Tell me, what’s your one little word?