I have a yearly tradition of choosing a One Word (or phrase) Focus to give me a main theme and intention for my year. It’s often related to a major area of personal development that a lot of my goals fall under or something I want to remind myself of more that year. If you’d like to learn more about what a One Word Focus is and how to choose your own, click here. In this blog post I will review my 2020 focus and then reveal what I’ve chosen for my 2021 focus.
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Review of My 2020 Focus
My 2020 One Word focus was “STORY” because I wanted to live a story worth reading. Read more about it here. And boy oh boy was 2020 quite the story! No one could have guessed that a few months into the year we’d have a global pandemic that shut down and changed everything! As if that wasn’t bad enough, George Floyd was killed by a police officer, sparking more protests (and some very needed conversations and movements). We also had a particularly strange and divisive election year. And that doesn’t even cover all of the chaos of 2020.
I intentionally aimed to better my ability to adapt and go with the flow, and, well, I picked the perfect year to make that my aim! I might not have been set up well for adapting and would’ve stressed out about it had I not intentionally made my plan to not have much of a plan. I feel like this year also helped me give myself more grace because it’s easier cut yourself some slack when EVERYONE is going through the same struggles together.
With the changes 2020 brought, I had to take a couple goals off my list.
First, I intended to write more lessons from film posts…But with the pandemic, almost all the movies scheduled for this year got postponed.
Second, I planned on writing fables throughout 2020—and I did get 1 published and wrote a 2nd as a poem but never came back to finish the animation I was working on for it (my 1st time animating in Photoshop! I already sunk SO many hours into it!)—but I decided to stop this project to give my attention to more timely posts such as How to Help Others When You Only Have $10 or Less, 8 Therapists, Coaches, & Mental Health Advocates Share Wisdom & Encouragement, How Introverts Can Help Others During Quarantine, and How to Set Goals During Uncertain Times.
I honestly am very proud of myself for how I adapted to meet the current needs at the time. I too often stubbornly hold onto the plans I’ve made and struggle to adapt. So this year was one of great growth for me!
Despite the craziness of this year and battling with my own depression, anxiety, pandemic stress, and grief from the loss of my grandparents, I faced many fears and had some major accomplishments that I want to make sure I take the time to recognize and celebrate!
- In January I had my very 1st speaking gig!
- I launched my 1st clothing product in my store, with concepts an artist on Fiverr brought to life for me!
- I pitched collaborations to 3 different brands and was accepted by them all!
- I also pitched my art for a HUGE commission and was chosen!
- I used my pain to write a letter of encouragement for those who’ve also been abandoned by a friend.
- I created stopmotion for my hero’s journal review.
- I started an apprenticeship with Christian Rivera to become a personality profiler!
- I finished editing my mother’s novel.
- I took more days for ME (a goal I had set for this year).
- I completed a video game (another goal I set for myself as part of trying to take more time to relax).
- I learned ukulele!
- I did my 1st live videos, including a ukulele performance!
- I did a Twitter live video with Andy.
- I did some great inner work in counseling.
- I exceeded my goal for finished colored digital art pieces!
- I did my 1st Q & A video.
- I celebrated my 5 year blogiversary!
- I launched my coaching business!!!
- I wrote a 28 page ebook.
- I appeared as a guest for the 1st time on YouTube! For Joyce’s channel talking about INFJs and enneagram types.
- I made some new friends and deepened some old friendships.
- I got my own apprentice!
- I started doing bollywood dance workouts!
I’m proud of myself. There were many times my harsh inner critic whispered (or screamed) in my ear that I “should be doing more”…but…um…1st of all, WE WERE IN A FREAKIN PANDEMIC, CALM DOWN ANNA! And 2nd, I need to learn to better accept my limits and give myself grace when those limits aren’t where I’d like them to be.
I learned so much in 2020 and made some big strides in personal growth even if I didn’t make as big of strides with my brand because of the weirdness and unpredictability of 2020. Now it’s time to reveal what I’ve decided will be my theme and focus for 2021!
My Focus for 2021: MAKE MISTAKES!
What does it mean to me and why did I choose it?
I’ve made a lot of progress in overcoming my perfectionism, but it’s still a major struggle for me. My inner critic is so loud and sometimes is still difficult to quiet. So this year I want to make it my top priority!
For those into the Enneagram, I am an Enneagram One, often nicknamed “the Reformer” or “the Perfectionist.” My subtype is “self-preservation”, which for my type basically means I’m waaaay harder on myself than I ever would be on anyone else. I hold ridiculous standards for myself I’d never hold anyone else to.
Beatrice Chestnut talks about how all the enneagram types can grow by focusing on these different areas for improvement…except for the Enneagram One lol. They’re the only type that actually needs to “get worse to get better.” Because their problem IS that they’re always focused on self-improvement to a fault.
I used to fear going to that opposite extreme (taking TOO many breaks, not spending enough time perfecting things, letting things go, etc.) would make me lazy. But I realize now that could never happen! I’m way too ambitious, creative, and neurotically on the other far extreme to ever fall into laziness. So I think purposefully allowing myself lean into the opposite extreme might help me find that healthy balance.
What will I do to intentionally live out this focus?
To shift my self talk, I’m going to try making it my goal to make mistakes. Yes, you heard that right. Any time I make a mistake, I’m going to catch that Mind Gremlin and CELEBRATE that I made a mistake because it means I’m trying, taking action, taking risks, facing my fears, learning, growing, and allowing myself to be a beginner (aka not immediately amazing at something I’ve just started lol). I’ve even made a list in my new planner so I can list the mistakes I’ve made, and celebrate more the longer the list grows!
I also will record more vlogs to document my journey of making my mistakes and developing my skills. This is something I used to fear—only wanting to show the end product once I’ve mastered something. Wanting to be a good example so people will respect me and hire me as a coach. But I realized sharing my personal journey PROVES that I actually put in the work myself. And seeing my journey instead of just the end–the “after”–might inspire others as well. Even the messy mistakes! It’s a part of the process, so let’s both learn to embrace it!
Speaking of the messy middle, many of my vlogs will also be less scripted (super hard for me!) and less edited. I also want to play around more, experiment, and have some fun with the vlogs! We might get worse before we get better, so bear with me! However, I will continue my Real Talk videos as usual. Those I’ll focus on quality over quantity, so they might be less frequent as the vlogs.
Vlog Series I’m Planning on So Far…
- Developing Extroverted Sensing (Se)—my inferior cognitive function as an INFJ is Se. Which basically means this vlog series will be about becoming more present, mindful, grounded, as well as developing better body control and adaptability.
- Improving My Art Skills—a big goal of mine this year is to get serious about my art practice. I will document my journey, including my character creation process for my art commission. I will be using Art Quest and The Hero’s Journal to help me on this art journey!
- Takeaways from Personal Development Books—I’ve outputted and produced a lot this year, but it’s time to spend more time for input and consuming. So I want to read more books, and share some of what I’m learning with you!
- Other skills I’m working on—I might show other things I’m working on that don’t fall under the previous 3 categories.
Tools I’m Using This Year
- The Adventurer’s Toolkit from Life’s an RPG is a new product I found and totally fell in love with! It turns personal development into an rpg. I’ll be documenting using it and reviewing it on my channel too! It also comes with access to a community platform. I’ll be leading a group there in the new year to help people learn more about their personality!
- Passion Planner has amazing planners, and I’m trying a weekly undated one for the first time! I’ll make sure to review for you, as well! I’ve used Bloom Daily Planner’s Vision Planner in the past, and then last year I tried out Clever Fox Planner Pro which became my new favorite because it also had bullet pages in the back that I used for my goals and content planning.
- Art Quest is a product by Nik Hagialas that is an rpg story for art improvement with quests that can earn you points. I’m trying it out for the 1st time this year and will review it on my channel!
- The Hero’s Journal is an epic 90 day undated goal journal that turns your goal into a quest. You can click here to read my review. I just got their gorgeous new Royal Purple journal and I’m pretty sure I’ll use it for my art goals this year!
Each year I choose some sort of visual reminder for my Focus. In the past I’ve had engraved bracelets, wall art, and phone wallpaper. This year…I’M GOING TO GET A TATTOO!!!
And I’ll document it in 1 of my vlogs so make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss this experience of me facing my fear of being stabbed a million times and having to make a permanent decision!
Comment Below:
What’s YOUR One Word focus for 2021? Need some help choosing it? Click here.
If you’d like to read about my past past focuses, check out the links below:
Want some tips for setting and reaching your goals? Check out these posts:
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