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January 7, 2025 19 mins

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Picture the chaos of life suddenly becoming a harmonious melody through one simple change: the power of a single, intentional word. That’s the promise of our latest episode of Confidently Beautiful, where I share my longstanding tradition of choosing a "word of the year" to guide my journey. For 2025, my guiding star is "systems," a choice that might seem mundane but is actually a beacon for creating effective routines amidst life's beautiful chaos. Reflecting back, my 2024 was shaped by the word "simplify," which helped me navigate monumental life changes like the arrival of a new baby and relocating. Together, we explore the transformative potential of selecting a personal word that resonates with your unique path, with suggestions like growth, flourish, and acceptance to inspire your journey.

Building on this foundation of intentional living, the episode also unravels a blueprint for fostering deep connections with the people who matter most. Inspired by Mel Robbins’ thoughtful approach to nurturing family bonds, I walk you through my plan for a year filled with meaningful interactions. From penciling in monthly activities with loved ones to surprising faraway relatives with digital gifts, these intentional strategies are designed to make cherished moments an integral part of life rather than mere fleeting wishes. Tune in to uncover how embracing these connection systems can enrich your relationships and amplify the joy in everyday life.

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Episode Transcript

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Ciera (00:03):
you're listening to confidently beautiful with Ciera
a podcast to help you stayconfidently beautiful, because
we all have confidence inside us.
We just need to bring it outand I'm here to show you how
body image, dreams, parenting,style, personality and more here
we cover it all.
Get ready to stay confidentlybeautiful.
Do you have an inspiring storyof confidence?

(00:27):
Whether you've overcome alimitation, rediscovered
yourself after a loss, or builtconfidence through something as
simple yet super powerful asgardening, I want to hear from
you, or maybe you know someonewhose journey would inspire
others.
I'm looking for real, relatablestories to feature on the
Confidently Beautiful podcast.
Let's celebrate the beauty ofconfidence in all its forms.

(00:48):
Email me atconfidentlybeautifulwithsierra
at gmailcom and let's chat aboutsharing your story with my
incredible community.
I can't wait to hear from you.
2025 is already upon us.
This is the first episode of2025.
I cannot even believe that weare already here.
I feel like we were justbringing in 2024 and here we are
with a whole new year, a yearof memories behind us.

(01:10):
A year of trials, a year ofhard things, a year of amazing
things.
A year of incredible things.
It's just wild how fast timeseems to be going, but here we
are.
It's a brand new year and I amso excited to be back here with
the very first episode of theyear and to be sharing a little
bit something about what I liketo do.
Every year, everyone hasdifferent feelings about New

(01:32):
Year's resolutions or these NewYear's dreams or hopes or
whatever it is.
I know a lot of people thatlike to just do it in the
springtime because they feellike that's when they really
come alive, and I think that'sbeautiful.
Just do it in the springtimebecause they feel like that's
when they really come alive, andI think that's beautiful.
I don't think that you need towait for a certain time of the
year to have a new beginning,but I do think that there is
something really inspiring andalmost like addictively catching

(01:56):
about the new year.
Like you just are drawn to itand there's just this feeling
that, for me and my personality,I just really really do well
with a fresh start in a new year.
I wish it was a little bitwarmer, but I will take what I
can get and I will take this newperspective of feeling of
newness, excitement andawakening that a brand new year

(02:19):
brings.
I wanted to start my year bysharing a little something that
I do at the beginning of everyyear.
Every year, I choose a word ofthe year and every year it's a
little different and I startthinking about it.
Usually in about beginning ofDecember, I start thinking
what's my word going to be forthe next year?
And it usually will just cometo me in, either like through an

(02:39):
event or and it will just comeinto my heart.
It will come into my mind and Iwill just feel like, yes, this
is supposed to be my word forthe year.
My word for 2025 is not aglamorous word.
It is nothing that you wouldthink that like sounds like
really beautiful and inspiring,like a commitment or drive or

(03:00):
anything like that.
No, my word for 2025 is systems.
Now, hear me out, this is goingto sound like the most boring
word and you're going to be likeSierra.
Really Systems, like that isnot a glamorous word, that is
not something that sounds likeexciting, but this is going to
be so needed for me right now inmy life, and so I am going to

(03:24):
share a little bit about how Icame to this, to feel this word
and why I chose this word, and alittle bit about what I plan to
do with this word and the ridethat I am going to take you on
with me.
Your word does not need to besystems to be able to follow
along and hopefully get a littleinspiration and nuggets.
Watch me fail, watch me succeedas I try and figure out systems

(03:46):
in all areas of my life.
Top words for the year.
If you need an idea of whatyour word should be, growth is a
popular one.
Emphasizing personaldevelopment, deepening your
roots, just growing as a person.

(04:07):
This can go in any category inyour life.
Flourish I love that word.
That's beautiful, like I mean.
If you don't want like a wordthat's not as glamorous and not
as pretty as my word systems,then pick a word like flourish
that just sounds beautiful, likeaiming to thrive oh, thrive,
that would be another good word.
Or break through yourchallenges.

(04:28):
Acceptance could be a reallygood word.
There's so many things in lifethat we could just accept.
Reclaim.
Maybe you had a really reallyhard 2024, and so maybe 2025
you're going to reclaim and takeback joy or passion or
excitement whatever it is thatyou need to take back in your
life.

(04:48):
Another word that I think isreally a cool one would be like
choose.
So maybe you think that, as youhave decisions in your life,
okay, I'm going to choose, andmaybe you have that.
That gives yourself like alittle bit more power to make
more intentional decisions.
Intentional is a word that I'veused in the past, so, just like
that power to choose, thatcould be a really good word.

(05:11):
So those are some ideas Toshare a little bit about why I
chose the word systems for 2025,.
I first want to share what myword was for 2024 and do a
little reflection with you onwhy I chose that word and how
that word played out in the yearand how that led me to choosing
this new word, of systems.

(05:31):
My word for 2024 was simplify.
Now you could look at what Idid in 2024 and be like you did
not simplify your life, but Ireally actually did.
I mean, yes, I had a baby.
That's not simplifying yourlife, that, but I really
actually did.
I mean, yes, I had a baby.
That's not simplifying yourlife, that's adding a little bit
more chaos.
We did end up buying a houseand moving and selling our other
house.
That is definitely notsimplifying.

(05:52):
So I mean you could look at itfrom the outside and being like
that is not simplifying, butactually for me, in all of those
steps to make those decisionsthen it brought more simplicity
into certain areas of my lifeand more peace into the future,
made the future more simple.
At the beginning of 2024, I mean, obviously I already knew I was

(06:14):
pregnant when it was the end of2023 and I was thinking of this
new word.
So I knew, I knew a baby wasgoing to be coming and so that
was kind of my thought was okay,we are adding the chaos of
another child, another baby totake care of, another round of
sleep, training and sleeplessnights and all of the things
that a newborn brings.
So I knew there was going to bea little element of chaos,

(06:37):
which is, I think, why I, kindof like, was leaning towards the
word simplify, because I feltlike I needed to just simplify
and just focus on my kids andthe simple things in life that
really mattered.
So that's how I started theyear.
As the year went on, we keptmaking decisions and I always
had this word in the back of myhead.

(06:57):
I always thought simplify.
And as I was making decisionsfor things, the summer came and
we had always thought aboutbuying a new home and we were
not actively looking.
But something came and it was asituation where we just felt
like it was right.
Now, the outside in, you feellike this is not simplifying,

(07:19):
and even in the moments of itall, I was like what are we
doing?
Like why are we selling ourhouse?
Why are we moving to this newhouse that we have found?
And it just it seemed sostressful to me and there were a
lot of things that went, but Ijust kept getting this feeling
of like no, this is right.
And so we kept moving forward,like so fast forward.
We got our house sold, we gotinto the new house, we moved

(07:42):
into the house.
A week later we went.
We went to Disneyland.
It was not simplifying, it waschaos, but we went to Disneyland
.
We had an amazing time.
It was actually really great tohave closed on our house and
then to just go and just enjoybeing with the family and
focusing on the simple things ofwhat really matters in life.
And we got back home and I justI just like took it all in,

(08:04):
like I was still having likethis fairy tale moment of like
is this really my new?
Is this?
Is this really my new home?
This was a dream home for usand we were like the fact that
it all fell into place and thatwe found the home when we did,
when we weren't actively looking, we just knew that it was
supposed to happen.
As I was unpacking, I tried tosimplify everything, and so that

(08:27):
was kind of like the steptowards coming up with my word
for 2025.
I feel like last year needed tohappen with my word simplify.
It needed to happen because itput a lot in perspective of what
is really important with mybusiness, what is really
important with my family, whatis really important in my home,
what is really important with mybusiness, what is really

(08:47):
important with my family, whatis really important in my home,
what is really important with mybeliefs.
There are so many differentareas in my life that I really
really feel like set me up formy new word of 2025 being
systems, so simplifying my life.
Even though it may not looklike I had simplified, I had
actually done all of thispreparation work for this word

(09:10):
in 2025, which is systems.
So that's kind of the backstoryof how my word for 2025 came,
and I have had a word of theyear for several years and every
year.
I find it so interesting how theword that comes to me.
I stick with it through theyear and it and maybe it comes
to me for like a certain I'mthinking of, like a certain

(09:32):
thing in my life or a certainarea in my life that that word
could benefit.
But it's always so surprisingto me how it benefits so many
different areas of my lifewithout me even realizing that
that's what was going to happen,and so I love that about a word
for the year because they seemto build on each other.
I think my first word of theyear was intentional.
My next word was consistencyand it was simplify, and this

(09:56):
year is system.
So, yes, this is my fourth yearof choosing a word of the year
and I just think that it is socool to see all of the
experiences and how they buildon each other.
And and the word of the year,really, it really does become
like something that is the wordfor the year.
So I plan for 2025 and I alwaystry and like when I think of a

(10:20):
word, I always try and think,okay, what am, what am I going
to want with this word for theyear?
So I have in my mind what isgoing to happen for 2025 with
the word systems.
It's going to be so interestingto listen back to this episode
and then reflect at the end ofthe year or the beginning of
next year and what actuallyhappened with the word systems,

(10:40):
and I am so excited to see itbecause I have a vision in my
mind and we're going to see ifit actually ends up being this.
But the very first thing I havedone for this word of the year
is actually I did it at the endof last year, but I did it in
preparation for this year.
How many times do us if those ofus who are moms how many times

(11:02):
do we think I want to do this,this and this with my kids?
I want to have this specialtime with my daughter.
I want to take my son andexperience this with him, but
then does it actually happen?
Like no life gets in the way.
Life gets crazy.
Maybe it's not even with yourkids, maybe it's with a sibling.

(11:22):
Like, I want to spend more timewith my, my sister.
I want to spend more time doingthis.
I want to be more intentionalwith the time that we're
spending together.
Mel robbins I listen to her.
I love her.
She was saying that in lastyear, 2024, one of her goals was
to spend more time with herparents and as she was
reflecting on her year 2024, sherealized that she did, in fact,

(11:44):
spend more time with them.
One of her favorite ways toreflect is to look through her
camera roll.
I do this too and I love it.
It brings like a lot ofawareness because you can see,
oh wow, I have no pictures of medoing anything fun.
That probably means I didn'thave a lot of fun in my, in my
year Maybe you want to changethat.
So she was doing a lot ofreflecting and so she saw like,

(12:08):
yes, I did, I spent a lot moretime with my parents.
So now she knows for 2025, shewants to build on that and she's
going to keep spending time.
So one of my systems for theyear I started and it's not too
late If you want to take thisand you want to do it in your
life, it is not too late.
So don't take the fact that Idid it as a Christmas gift as,
like your chance is over andwe'll try again next year
because you can do it anytime.
But I, what I did is I wentahead and I planned out for a

(12:31):
whole year one event that Iwanted to do with people in my
life that I'm really close to.
So I have my kids, I did my mom, I did some of my siblings and
I planned out some events that Iwant to do with them.
Now, some of the siblings don'tlive here, so how was I going
to do that?
So I came up with, like otherconnection things that I could

(12:52):
do with them throughout the yearthat maybe are not in person
but can help me to feel moreconnected with them and help me
to grow that relationship withthem.
And I went ahead call me a nerd.
I went ahead and so I made thesecute charts which I am going to
share with you.
So if you want a chart, thenplease send me a DM on Instagram
, send me an email.

(13:12):
You can find all of my contactinformation in the show notes,
but I would love to get you onmy email list so that you can
have access to these templates,because what I did is I created
these templates and they are acalendar January, february,
march, april, may, june.
January, february, march, april, may, june, july, august,
september, october, november,december and it has their name
at the top.
And then I I went through and Isaid what I am going to do

(13:38):
connect, to connect with thatperson every month, the people
that I'm I am able to seephysically.
Then I went ahead and I plannedeverything that we are going to
do.
So January I will give you anexample for January my January
event with one of my sons is togo to the pet store and look at
all the pets and say hi to themand look at the fish and all the

(13:59):
things and then go get icecream.
I put that on on his chart thatI gave him my daughters.
I put on her chart that we weregoing to go swimming at the rec
center.
She's been begging and beggingfor me to take her to the rec
center.
So those are two examples ofkids ones.
I did some stuff for Seth, I didsomething for my mom, for my
sister we actually just did herson Saturday and we went on a

(14:21):
hike together.
Like how many times would we belike I want to go and do this
and then we never do it?
We were even talking about thaton the hike.
Like I was like I put this inthe calendar and we did it and
I'm so happy that we did it,because I could have just been
like this thing, like oh, weshould go do that, and then it
never happens.
So I went ahead and I did allthat and that was my gift to
them.
I gave the gifts to them atChristmas time, but then I went

(14:43):
even a step further and Iliterally have them on my
calendar from January toDecember.
I had every single event planned.
Now some of them are like to bedetermined and so, like I just
put tentative and then like whatwe were going to do, because
obviously I don't know likethings may change, things might
the time on, things might change.

(15:04):
I don't know, like when certainevents are going to start and
happen, but I at least put themon my calendar as tentative
events.
I planned the ones that couldbe planned, bought tickets in
advance for things that neededto be bought and I tentatively
put on my schedule everythingelse that's going to happen.
So that way when I see thatit's coming up, when I do my
quarterly planning, when I do myweekly planning, I can see that

(15:25):
an event is coming up, then Ican adjust it during that time
as it gets closer to besomewhere.
I can adjust it on that time asit gets closer to be somewhere
on my calendar.
That can be a little bit moreflexible and more realistic with
what I'm able to do in thattime, but they're at least on
the calendar.
So that is my very first systemand I am so excited about it
and I'm so happy because I'vealready you know, I've already

(15:47):
done one thing I've already goneon a hike with my sister, and
it's the beginning of the year,so we're not even a week into
the year.
So that was something that wasreally exciting in a system that
I am really excited about andI'm excited to see how it will
improve my relationships withthese people, even the ones that
are simple, um like.
So the the ones that are nothere.

(16:09):
I think my thing for Januarywas to send them a surprise
Venmo throughout the month andso like that's something like so
easy.
I could send them five bucksand be like go get a drink or go
get a cookie, and like it canjust be something like that.
That's just so simple, but yetit's going to have like a little

(16:31):
bit of connection.
Another one that was like alittle bit more meaningful that
I put on, one that was like froma far away distance, was that I
am going to randomly send thema text with a memory that I have
of the two of us.
Like, so easy, so simple.
It's going to take me fiveminutes to look through some
pictures, come up with a memorytext, it out and send it to them
and it's going to hopefully,like spark some memories for

(16:55):
them and conversation and buildthe connection with each other.
So I'm really really excitedfor that.
So if you want to continue withme on my journey of systems and
get inspired, maybe this doesn'teven need to be your word for
the year.
If you want this to be yourword for the year, great, join
me and tell me your systems andlet's learn from each other,
because there's so many amazingsystems for so many areas in

(17:18):
life that we could all learnfrom and it would be so fun.
If you want to follow alongwith me as I do this systems
journey for 2025, I am going tobe sharing my systems throughout
the year, so just make sure youjoin my email list.
You can click on the link inthe show notes, you can send me
a message and I'll get you thelink, but somehow, like, let's
get you on the list so that youcan have these systems

(17:40):
throughout the year and I willshare all my templates that I
come up with with you and tellwhat works, what fails, what I
need to tweak.
And I'm really, really excitedand, even if you don't want to
use systems for your word, maybeyou can get inspired to to
bring a little bit moreconfidence into certain areas in
your life with some systemsthat maybe hopefully will work,

(18:01):
or you can at least get someideas and tweak them to make
them work for you and where youare with your life episode.
If you found it helpful andmaybe like, share what your word
is for the year, make sure youtag me so I can see it and send
this to somebody who you thinkwould really love to hear this
and maybe they are a goal junkieand they love words of the year

(18:24):
.
Send this to them and maybethey can be inspired if they
haven't already come up withtheir word for 2025.
Thank you so much for listeningand I will talk to you next
week.
We are starting a series ofconfidence in business and I
have interviewed some amazingbusiness owners.
I did those interviews the endof 2024 and they are finally
going to be airing.

(18:45):
So stay tuned for that.
It's going to be, I think, afive part series, four or five
parts.
You don't even need to be abusiness owner to be inspired by
these beautiful, beautifulwomen and hear their stories of
how they balance business andmotherhood and get the
confidence to grow and dosomething that is scary for them
.
So stay tuned for that.

(19:05):
They will start next week andone episode will be dropping
every week.
Episodes drop on Tuesday forall of 2025.
And I am so excited to have abeautiful, beautiful year with
you.
Thank you so much for joiningme.
Stay confidently beautiful.
Thanks for listening.
Connect with me on Instagram @confidently beautiful podcast

(19:26):
and share this episode withsomeone in your life who could
use a little reminder of justhow amazing they already are.
Stay confidently beautiful.
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