As we kick off the new year, one exercise that I enjoy going through is carefully selecting the three words that will be the overarching themes for the year. This is a process that Chris Brogan introduced 15 years ago and that I’ve been consistently doing since 2008. These three words provide the framework for what my goals will be (broken out into select categories once I’ve these three themes).

With that said, my three words for 2021 are: Perseverance, Wellness, and Recovery. Let’s break these down one-by-one:

Perseverance

2020 was been a hard one for most of us. There hasn’t been a may people that I’ve talked to or interacted with online that thought that it was a banner year. It was tough globally, nationally, and individually. As the year wore on, we collectively began to know more and more people who tested posted for COVID-19.

Within our family we had several things that we dealt with that on any given year only having to be deal with one of them would have been a lot. One of those was losing my dog, Sasha, whom I had since she was 8 weeks old. She was with me for 15 years and I spent the last 6 weeks of her life sleeping on the couch just to be by her side because she could no longer make it up the stairs without physically passing out when she pushed herself to do it.

In addition to all of that, I have been out of work since April and, though I have had contracted/consulted work here and there, I have also submitted 225+ applications just to be turned down or ghosted by every one of those companies. And, sadly enough, I know that I’m not the only one by a long shot.

This is why in 2021 I will continue to persevere, no matter what is ahead for me. Hopefully the economy will improve, companies will begin hiring more, and I’ll either have a full-time job or build out a successful consulting practice.

I will not allow any personal tragedies get in the way of accomplishing what I want to accomplish, even though I will, of course, take the time to process them as they will inevitably come along.

Wellness

First off, it’s important to not confuse wellness with health or fitness. Wellness is an all encompassing theme that goes beyond just health and fitness. It also includes social, emotional, and intellectual wellness. There are additional definitions that include other components but these are the areas that I’m focused on this year.

Health and fitness are the major components of this for me. While it’s a way of life for me, I do always set aggressive goals for myself. In previous years I have set goals such as completing a specific number of Spartan Races or GORUCK events. But, over the past couple of years I haven’t been able to set those goals because, beyond increasing pain in my shoulders (which I think is the start of arthritis which is what my orthopedic surgeon told me would happen), I have the lingering issues from fracturing my patella in 2018.

My fitness goals this year all tie together and others are new challenges such as accomplishing an average number of skips per day.

When it comes to social and emotional fitness, this should be rather obvious. We’re all in a similar space. This upcoming year, for my own health, I want to see more friends and family as we’re, hopefully, able to. This year I didn’t have Happy Hours or other get togethers with friends over Zoom or FaceTime. We did spend a lot of time over FaceTime with family, especially over the holidays since we had to cancel our trips for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Speaking of canceling trips, we plan on getting away a few times this year (fingers crossed). Those trips are already booked so there is something to look forward to.

Intellectually I always strive to read more books, including a combination between fiction and non-fiction. During 2020, I drifted away from podcasts and audiobooks since I wasn’t traveling anywhere. This is something that I’m going to work back into my life as I go for walks and hikes. Lastly, I plan on taking a few online courses to expand my mind. Beyond certifications, several highly revered universities offer courses that can be taken for free or for a minor investment.

Recovery

While perseverance is continuing to push through, the other side of that is taking a chance to recover from all that was 2020. It was a difficult year and taking that downtime to fully recover is necessary. As 2021 kicks off, life won’t be magically better. We’ll continue to deal with the litany of mandates and lockdowns that are in place now. Over time, hopefully we’ll see these lift as the vaccines become more widely available. But, by keeping “recovery” at the forefront of my mind, it’ll help me to dial things back as needed and gain broader perspective.

There ya have it. These overarching themes, coupled with my goals, will be what I will strive to accomplish during this year. I will actively check in on these themes and evaluate how I’m striving to live up to them. Where the goals that I’ve set out to achieve may be trending on the side of being too easy to check the box on, I will adjust up as needed. If some goals won’t be accomplished simply because of where we, as a society, are then those will be adjusted too.

What’s important is that you have something that you’re working towards on a daily basis.

What will you be focused on in the upcoming year?

Whatever it is, I hope that this new year brings you everything that you hope that it will be.