December 24, 2024 • 9 mins
Picking a theme word is an important step in helping you shape your year to come. When you struggle to decide what to work on next, you can look to that word and ask yourself, which of these options will help me emulate this word? Which task helps you return to my overall goal for the year?
In today's episode, Courtney explains what a theme word is, how to pick one, and how her word for 2025 will help her work towards making this next year better than the last.
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Episode Transcript
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Courtney (00:32):
Hello and Merry Christmas Eve to those who
celebrate.
I hope that you're having agreat holiday season.
Since we are wrapping up thisyear and starting to look
towards 2025, I wanted to chatwith you about something that
I've done for the past few yearsto help me frame my mindset
about the year to come.
And that is picking a theme wordto encapsulate what I plan to
(00:56):
focus on throughout the year.
This can tie into your goals ifyou've already set them.
And if not, it can help you setthose goals.
In our next mini episode, wewill kick off the new year by
discussing goal-setting.
But for today, I want to focuson the big picture.
So why should you bother pickinga theme word?
(01:16):
Personally, I find that it helpsme to focus when I struggle to
decide what to work on next, Ican look to that word and ask
myself.
Which of these options will helpme emulate this word.
Which task helps me come back tomy overall goal for the year?
Here are some examples.
(01:37):
My first year doing this wasback in 2018.
I got married in January.
I went on a honeymoon to Jamaicaand I knew that six months later
I'd be moving across the countryfrom Texas to Oregon.
It was a year of huge changesand I picked the word explore.
Some of my activities easily fitinto the theme.
(01:59):
You know, exploring Jamaica, thefact that we took 10 days to
drive from Texas to Oregon,stopped in national parks and
basically just camped our wayacross the country.
And then of course there wasexploring our new home being in
a new state.
But explore meant more than justphysically exploring locations.
(02:19):
I also wanted to use this timeof change and transition to
explore my new direction inlife.
What was another cross countrymove going to show me?
How was I going to make newfriends?
How would this change thetrajectory of my life?
There were so many unknowns andI was excited to explore all of
(02:41):
them.
For another example (02:43):
those of you who have been around for a
while, know that my health hasbeen pretty crummy.
I've gone through four bigsurgeries since 2021.
As such, I've been unable tofocus on my business ideas
nearly as much as I'd like to.
And this took me a while toaccept.
(03:04):
My words for the past couple ofyears have looked very
different.
And when I feel guilty aboutbeing unable to do as much as my
mind tells me I should be doing,which is pretty much every day.
The words are a helpful way torefocus.
Recover and heal have been myrecent words and reminding
(03:26):
myself that my big goal for thispast year was just to get better
allows me to assuage some of theguilt I've had about spending
most of this year in bed.
Because, as I mentioned, when Ilook at my choices for what to
do in any given day, I askedmyself: which of these tasks is
going to help me to recover.
(03:48):
And which will make it harder todo so.
As a chronic pain, girly, I onlyhave so many spoons or spell
slots if you'd prefer in a day,so I need to spend them wisely
and give myself the time tofocus on recovery.
So, how do you even pick a word?
There are a few things toconsider.
(04:10):
Do you have any big eventshappening in the upcoming year
that you can frame a wordaround?
Think back to my 2018 word.
I knew I'd be getting marriedand moving.
So there were a lot of changesto explore.
Are you starting a new business?
Are you turning your hobby intoa business?
Are you preparing to go to abunch of conventions and sell at
(04:31):
them for the first time?
Or are you expanding yourproduct lines?
You can pick a word around thosebig events.
Another thing to consider iswhether you've already set some
goals.
If so, is there a word thatsummarizes those goals?
Again, it's fine if you haven'tset goals yet.
I tend to pick my word as myoverall goal for the year and
(04:51):
then pick actionable steps thatsupport that word.
You don't have to pick a wordthat's specific to your career.
Recover and heal certainlyweren't.
This should be something thatsupports your whole life and
helps your relationship withfamily and friends as well.
So, are you ready to hear whatmy word for 2025 is?
(05:11):
As I mentioned, my words for thepast two years were pretty
similar and focused on my healthand recovery.
I'm still in a lot of pain andstruggling to sit or stand for
very long.
So setting goals has been reallydifficult, as it's hard for me
to know what my body will becapable of doing on any given
day.
But despite all that I havepicked the word renew.
(05:34):
There are a few definitions forthe word, and I encourage you to
take the time to read theofficial definitions of whatever
word interests you to ensurethat it really does fit.
The two definitions of renewthat speak to me are"to make
new." And"give fresh life orstrength to." I want to spend
(05:55):
2025 rebuilding my life.
It obviously looks verydifferent than I thought it
would.
And I have to explore what I'mcapable of doing after all these
health struggles.
But I am more than ready to moveforward.
In my personal life, I want toreconnect with friends.
I fallen out of touch with, Iwant to get back out into
exploring my new home statebecause I love to travel and I
(06:18):
love hiking, and, obviously,hiking is not in the cards right
now, but that doesn't mean thatI can't find other ways to renew
my interest in seeing thebeautiful nature that I'm
surrounded by.
Most importantly, I need torenew my faith in myself.
It is incredibly discouraging tobe in your mid thirties and lose
(06:41):
the trust that you have in yourown body to chronic illness and
chronic pain.
As I progress in physicaltherapy, I'm solely going to
renew that trust as I discover.
My new state of being.
Business-wise, Brenton and I arein the midst of overhauling
Lightheart Adventures.
I've had this email list growingfor years that I have done
(07:03):
nothing with, and it is way pasttime to revitalize it.
I want to give my all to my newEtsy store and renew the
interest that I'd cultivated,both from myself and also from
friends and family in my D&Dinspired pet accessories.
Our Lightheart instagram hasbeen practically untouched for
(07:25):
two years and it is time tobring that back.
I have a lot of things that Iwant to accomplish this year.
And it's time to renew ourbusiness and rebuild my life.
My last piece of advice is onceyou have picked a word out, find
ways to put it front and center.
In your office, your bathroom,your kitchen.
(07:46):
I don't care where or how, butmake it something that you
encounter on a daily basis.
Draw it.
Print it out and color it, use alaser cutter to engrave it knit,
or embroider it.
Make it your ringtone when youreceive a text, It doesn't
matter what you do.
Though, I will say that beingcreative does help you feel more
(08:07):
of an ownership over the word.
But make sure that you'reconstantly reminded of your
word.
It will help you to focusthroughout the year.
Alright, next week we will behearing from YouTuber, streamer
and video game content creator,fondue of dice and easy.
I will then be taking theseventh off as that is my
(08:28):
seventh wedding anniversary.
The week after that we will betalking about goal-setting.
So make sure that you pick yourword in the next three weeks as
we will use it in setting ourgoals.
And please let me know what wordyou pick.
Tag me on social media.
Email me atRollPlayGrow@gmail.com.
Drop a comment or review on theepisode.
(08:49):
I would love to know what yourword is and encourage you to
assimilate it into your dailylife.
Hello and Merry Christmas Eve to those who
celebrate.
I hope that you're having agreat holiday season.
Since we are wrapping up thisyear and starting to look
towards 2025, I wanted to chatwith you about something that
I've done for the past few yearsto help me frame my mindset
about the year to come.
And that is picking a theme wordto encapsulate what I plan to
(00:56):
focus on throughout the year.
This can tie into your goals ifyou've already set them.
And if not, it can help you setthose goals.
In our next mini episode, wewill kick off the new year by
discussing goal-setting.
But for today, I want to focuson the big picture.
So why should you bother pickinga theme word?
(01:16):
Personally, I find that it helpsme to focus when I struggle to
decide what to work on next, Ican look to that word and ask
myself.
Which of these options will helpme emulate this word.
Which task helps me come back tomy overall goal for the year?
Here are some examples.
(01:37):
My first year doing this wasback in 2018.
I got married in January.
I went on a honeymoon to Jamaicaand I knew that six months later
I'd be moving across the countryfrom Texas to Oregon.
It was a year of huge changesand I picked the word explore.
Some of my activities easily fitinto the theme.
(01:59):
You know, exploring Jamaica, thefact that we took 10 days to
drive from Texas to Oregon,stopped in national parks and
basically just camped our wayacross the country.
And then of course there wasexploring our new home being in
a new state.
But explore meant more than justphysically exploring locations.
(02:19):
I also wanted to use this timeof change and transition to
explore my new direction inlife.
What was another cross countrymove going to show me?
How was I going to make newfriends?
How would this change thetrajectory of my life?
There were so many unknowns andI was excited to explore all of
(02:41):
them.
For another example (02:43):
those of you who have been around for a
while, know that my health hasbeen pretty crummy.
I've gone through four bigsurgeries since 2021.
As such, I've been unable tofocus on my business ideas
nearly as much as I'd like to.
And this took me a while toaccept.
(03:04):
My words for the past couple ofyears have looked very
different.
And when I feel guilty aboutbeing unable to do as much as my
mind tells me I should be doing,which is pretty much every day.
The words are a helpful way torefocus.
Recover and heal have been myrecent words and reminding
(03:26):
myself that my big goal for thispast year was just to get better
allows me to assuage some of theguilt I've had about spending
most of this year in bed.
Because, as I mentioned, when Ilook at my choices for what to
do in any given day, I askedmyself: which of these tasks is
going to help me to recover.
(03:48):
And which will make it harder todo so.
As a chronic pain, girly, I onlyhave so many spoons or spell
slots if you'd prefer in a day,so I need to spend them wisely
and give myself the time tofocus on recovery.
So, how do you even pick a word?
There are a few things toconsider.
(04:10):
Do you have any big eventshappening in the upcoming year
that you can frame a wordaround?
Think back to my 2018 word.
I knew I'd be getting marriedand moving.
So there were a lot of changesto explore.
Are you starting a new business?
Are you turning your hobby intoa business?
Are you preparing to go to abunch of conventions and sell at
(04:31):
them for the first time?
Or are you expanding yourproduct lines?
You can pick a word around thosebig events.
Another thing to consider iswhether you've already set some
goals.
If so, is there a word thatsummarizes those goals?
Again, it's fine if you haven'tset goals yet.
I tend to pick my word as myoverall goal for the year and
(04:51):
then pick actionable steps thatsupport that word.
You don't have to pick a wordthat's specific to your career.
Recover and heal certainlyweren't.
This should be something thatsupports your whole life and
helps your relationship withfamily and friends as well.
So, are you ready to hear whatmy word for 2025 is?
(05:11):
As I mentioned, my words for thepast two years were pretty
similar and focused on my healthand recovery.
I'm still in a lot of pain andstruggling to sit or stand for
very long.
So setting goals has been reallydifficult, as it's hard for me
to know what my body will becapable of doing on any given
day.
But despite all that I havepicked the word renew.
(05:34):
There are a few definitions forthe word, and I encourage you to
take the time to read theofficial definitions of whatever
word interests you to ensurethat it really does fit.
The two definitions of renewthat speak to me are"to make
new." And"give fresh life orstrength to." I want to spend
(05:55):
2025 rebuilding my life.
It obviously looks verydifferent than I thought it
would.
And I have to explore what I'mcapable of doing after all these
health struggles.
But I am more than ready to moveforward.
In my personal life, I want toreconnect with friends.
I fallen out of touch with, Iwant to get back out into
exploring my new home statebecause I love to travel and I
(06:18):
love hiking, and, obviously,hiking is not in the cards right
now, but that doesn't mean thatI can't find other ways to renew
my interest in seeing thebeautiful nature that I'm
surrounded by.
Most importantly, I need torenew my faith in myself.
It is incredibly discouraging tobe in your mid thirties and lose
(06:41):
the trust that you have in yourown body to chronic illness and
chronic pain.
As I progress in physicaltherapy, I'm solely going to
renew that trust as I discover.
My new state of being.
Business-wise, Brenton and I arein the midst of overhauling
Lightheart Adventures.
I've had this email list growingfor years that I have done
(07:03):
nothing with, and it is way pasttime to revitalize it.
I want to give my all to my newEtsy store and renew the
interest that I'd cultivated,both from myself and also from
friends and family in my D&Dinspired pet accessories.
Our Lightheart instagram hasbeen practically untouched for
(07:25):
two years and it is time tobring that back.
I have a lot of things that Iwant to accomplish this year.
And it's time to renew ourbusiness and rebuild my life.
My last piece of advice is onceyou have picked a word out, find
ways to put it front and center.
In your office, your bathroom,your kitchen.
(07:46):
I don't care where or how, butmake it something that you
encounter on a daily basis.
Draw it.
Print it out and color it, use alaser cutter to engrave it knit,
or embroider it.
Make it your ringtone when youreceive a text, It doesn't
matter what you do.
Though, I will say that beingcreative does help you feel more
(08:07):
of an ownership over the word.
But make sure that you'reconstantly reminded of your
word.
It will help you to focusthroughout the year.
Alright, next week we will behearing from YouTuber, streamer
and video game content creator,fondue of dice and easy.
I will then be taking theseventh off as that is my
(08:28):
seventh wedding anniversary.
The week after that we will betalking about goal-setting.
So make sure that you pick yourword in the next three weeks as
we will use it in setting ourgoals.
And please let me know what wordyou pick.
Tag me on social media.
Email me atRollPlayGrow@gmail.com.
Drop a comment or review on theepisode.
(08:49):
I would love to know what yourword is and encourage you to
assimilate it into your dailylife.
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