Update on the Yearly Focus Words for ’22

Before I dive into the chosen yearly focus words for 2023, here is a little update on last year. Be Confident * Be Inspired * Be Organized were my focus words for 2022. How did it go, you may ask? Honestly, better than I expected. My confidence grew in my job, in living as the only adult in my home, and as an artist. Additionally, my art overwhelms me with inspriation almost daily. And, surprisingly, organization abounds in my home and routines flourish (by my estimation, anyway).

CREATE * CULTIVATE * CURATE

Create, Cultivate, Curate are my yearly focus words for 2023. I will continue to create a life I love and move further toward accomplishing my BIG creative dream goals by focusing on these concepts.

Miriam-Webster definitions:

Create – to bring something into existence; to produce through imaginative skill

Cultivate – to foster the growth of; to improve by labor, care, or study : REFINE;

Curate –  to select (the best or most appropriate) especially for presentation, distribution, or publication; to select and organize (artistic works) for presentation in (something, such as an exhibit, show, or program)

My purpose for each word:

Create – I will bring something into existence EVERY DAY! I will be participating in at least 6 art shows this year. I also have 3 large writing projects and a podcast planned. There is so much to get done! I do not want or need to let a day go by where I am not deep into creating something toward one of these goals every. single. day.

Cultivate – because my creative goals are so big and so tall I will cultivate my time, my processes, my skills in order to help make these happen.

Curate – I will be a curator of my life – choosing to keep what serves me and my purposes and to weeding those things which don’t. I will view my life as a finely curated one that serves me and pushes me toward my goals.

How does having yearly focus words work for me?

I chose words last year with no real expectation that this would help focus me toward the goals they implied. But it really did end up having an impact. I wrote them in my planner and revisited the concepts on occasion, asking myself if I was truly working toward emodying the concepts in my life.

This year I plan to take this a bit further. I love to plan. So, I am bringing these yearly focus words to my planner heart. I will be considering how everything I plan moves me toward my goals using these words as a guide. Does whatever I am planning help me create, cultivate, or curate my life toward the fulfillment of my BIG dream goals?

I selected the words carefully with the goal of fine tuning my life into a more goal oriented one and less of a floating like a feather in the wind sort of one.

Do you have focus words? How does choosing a focus for your year help you throughout your year? What do you do to keep the focus front and center throughout the year?