One Word Challenge 2019

The One Word Challenge is based on a book by motivational expert Jon Gordon called One Word That Will Change Your Life.    The premise of the book is that most people give up on their New Year's Resolutions by the end of January.  By focusing on just one word and remembering WHY you chose that word, you are more likely to stick to your resolution.  Here's a brief video of Jon Gordon explaining the idea behind One Word That Will Change Everything.

In 2017, my One Word was Stretch and, as I wrote in my year end reflection, I thought I did a great job of stretching out of my comfort zone both personally and professionally, For 2018, my word was 'well-being.'  In one of my first blog posts of 2018 I wrote: This year, with each choice I make both personally and professionally, I intend to reflect on whether this choice will contribute to my physical and mental well-being.

As a retiree, there is no reason not to get to the gym or outside for some exercise on a regular basis. When I choose to stay home and lounge on the couch, I need to make sure that I am making a mindful choice. Is this relaxation what I need right now for my well-being or would my well-being be better served by getting up and getting some exercise?

I have to be honest - earlier this week when I looked back at last year's one word challenge I had totally forgotten what my word was for 2018.  And I can't say that I have done a much better job of putting my well-being front and centre in 2018 than I did in 2017.  I'm afraid I didn't have much more luck with One Word than I did with my New Year's resolutions in years past.

So for 2019 I am going to keep my one word from 2018, and vow to do a better job of remembering that my well-being - physical, mental, emotional, social - is my goal for the year.  I intend to post reminders in my bullet journal and to look for other ways to remind myself throughout the year.

• Do you make New Year's Resolutions?
• Do you participate in the One Word Challenge?
• What strategies do you use to 'stick to it' with your goal?
• Have you ever realized that you completely forgot your goal (like I did?)

This poster is going on my bulletin board, where I will see it every day.
My plan is to find a new inspiration well-being quote to post each month as one strategy
to remember my commitment to my own well-being. 

Self-regulation and Procrastination

Inspired by my amazing colleagues, I decided to write a professional learning book based on a journal article I wrote last year and began the process with a book proposal to a publisher during Christmas Break.  This is part of my One Word Challenge - to stretch myself out of my comfort zone.

I submitted the proposal and the publisher was interested.  They requested a draft chapter by March 20.  I wrote the first draft by mid-February and sent it to two of my colleagues for their input. I respect both of them as educators and writers, and I knew they would give me the honest truth.  They sent me their suggestions and I got right to work on revisions.  Within a short time, I had revised everything except one section - about two paragraphs.

And that's when the procrastination started......

After a few days of diligently working away at revisions, I came to a screeching halt.  I moved my work down to the dining room table so I couldn't avoid seeing it all day, every day, but I kept avoiding those last two paragraphs.

Then I saw this on Twitter:

and I had an aha! moment.  How could I reframe my writing and more specifically my procrastination through a self-reg lens?  Why was I procrastinating?  It seemed to be causing stress but was it also a way of avoiding stress?

The last section I had to revise was about teacher self-efficacy.  One of my reviewers has just published a book on teacher self-efficacy.  So who am I to write about that when she's written a whole book?   I've read some articles and understand the theory behind it, but obviously she knows more than I do and I should probably just stop before I reveal my inferior knowledge to everyone.  I think there was a bit of imposter syndrome happening for me.

And secondly, once that section was done it would be time to submit this draft chapter to the publisher for peer review and committee consideration.  Maybe they'll say 'yes' and then I'll have to revise and revise again for this chapter PLUS I'll have to write the rest of the chapters.  Or, maybe they'll say 'no' and that will be so disappointing.  So by not finishing this draft chapter, I may have been trying to avoid the anxiety of clicking submit.

This self-reg lens helped me to understand why I was procrastinating. Instead of beating myself up for my lack of willpower and self-control, which I had been doing for days, I understood the reasons for the procrastination.  And once I did, I was able to finish the revisions in one night.

This morning, I mustered my courage and clicked send.  Draft chapter one is on it's way out into the publishing world for consideration and review, and hopefully, acceptance.  And best of all, I get my dining room table back!

I put the leaf in but still managed to cover the entire surface.
Luckily no one else was home this week.

The Power of Saying 'No'

When I was thinking about my One Word for 2017 I decided on 'yes' as a reminder to myself to say yes to opportunities and I wrote about in several posts - Saying Yes,  One Word Challenge, and Stay Afraid.  But after having a few weeks to reflect on it, I decided that Yes doesn't accurately reflect my newfound philosophy of challenging myself to stretch out of my comfort zone and try new things that, in the past, I would have avoided due to my own fear.

After reading an article in Psychology Today by Azadeh Aalai I realized that always saying yes isn't really what I want to do.  There is power in saying no to requests and opportunities that aren't a good fit for me or that come at an inopportune time. She writes that "when you're stuck, stressed or resentful a firm  'no' can open up your life." 

In my post yesterday, Retirement Buffet I noted that there are so many things that I can say yes to now that I'm retired - creative endeavours, going to the gym, taking courses, writing, and presenting at conferences.  I also want to spend more time with my girls, my dad, my extended family and of course, travelling with my husband.  But in order to say yes to all of those things, I have to say no to some things or I'll be stretching myself too thin and not enjoying any of them.

So instead of yes I've decided that my One Word for 2017 will be stretch. I'm stretching myself outside of my comfort zone academically by submitting writing proposals to journals and publishers and submitting presentation proposals to conference committees.  I am stretching myself physically with a renewed gym membership and I've already signed up for a 10K in the spring and the Detroit International Half Marathon in October 2017.  And I'm making time to stretch myself creatively with new things like knitting and sewing.  I may even start painting again!

How is your One Word for 2017 working for you so far? If you'd like more information about OneWord2017, you can search Twitter or follow the links in this post. 

Stay Afraid

This quote from Carrie Fisher resonated with me and my choice for the #OneWord2017 challenge.  I have resolved to say yes more often to opportunities instead of getting bogged down in all the what ifs.....


But I had struggled with choosing "yes" as my word.  Everyone else's choices seemed to be better somehow.  But "fearless" and "brave" just didn't ring true.  I like what Carrie is saying here.  This is more me - it's not that I'm fearless or even particularly brave.  I am still afraid but I resolve to do it anyway.  And perhaps as I say yes more often and do things anyway, in spite of being afraid, the confidence will build.

Image from Fusion.com

I've been thinking about how the One Word Challenge would be a great activity with students next week when they return to school.  I haven't find any resources online for doing this with students, but I did find this online template from Amazingmess.com that could be modified for use with students. I would simply delete the section that says scripture since I teach for a public school board.  You could easily do this activity without the template which is what I usually prefer to do.  Just have students fold a paper into thirds and label the sections: Brainstorm Words, Define 3 Words and My One Word.  You could have students create an image for their one word using visual arts materials or computer graphics which they could  keep at their desk or on a notebook as a reminder.  For our youngest students in kindergarten, it might be fun to do this with a small group or even as a whole class to create a vision for our class community.  So many possibilities and no wrong answers!

I'm downloading this image to use as my computer wallpaper this month:

Image from Dreamtime.com