Intentions for 2020: Amplify | Simplify

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Happy New Year!

I no longer make official resolutions, and there is always a consistent focus on health, family, relationships, and life work but I do have two areas of focus and intention for 2020 that go above and beyond these basics. They are to Amplify Impact and Simplify Process.

Amplifying Impact

At home and at work, with my writing and the podcast, this can take many different forms. At home, it means staying present to my family and keeping my head and perspective in this interesting time. It’s being of support to my son as he navigates this transition from boy to man.  And showing up as a true partner to my husband as we get ready for the next season of our lives. It’s staying clear to my own values and having a positive and lasting impact on the healthy habits, behaviors and decisions we make together and separately. And keeping a sense of humor and grace when we fall on our faces or have those pesky “learning moments.”

At work, it’s continuing to find the balance in my position and advancing the programs that can deliver impact to our employees and company.

And in my writing and podcast work, it’s consistency in sharing new content and finding a way to promote the work in a way that feels right and is in accordance to my values.

Simplifying Process

In a recent podcast with Gary Keller, he illustrated a brilliant concept that has been in my thinking ever since and can be used EVERYWHERE.

From meal planning to meeting agendas to relationships to determining which cloud storage option to use – for things big and small – what one thing can you do that makes everything else either easier or unnecessary? By making one decision, several others become redundant, opening up energy for other options. This is where you can start building margins of time for your creative pursuits, hobbies, passion projects or side-hustles. Or just reading that book on that’s been on your list for months.

Putting this to use, an example:

In a relationship: What’s one thing with each important relationship that will make everything else easier or unnecessary?  Is it a weekly phone call? A walk with a friend? Consistent date night with your partner? Decide and incorporate it into your life. Get it on the calendar or figure out how you’ll make the time.   Then enjoy. This is where fulfillment starts getting traction.

In keeping with this type of thinking, both Tim Ferriss and Greg McKeown magnified these ideas. By creating templates or processes for the elements of our lives that are recurring (travel, shopping, finances, thank you cards, hostess gifts, etc.) to defining and saying no to things we aren’t really interested in (attending parties we don’t care about, bad networking events, a new committee;) it’s often about defining how we want to engage and then creating the solution that fits our lives.

Despite what many will have you believe, there are many “right” ways to do things, so in figuring out what works best for you and your circumstances, you can be equipped to navigate these areas with greater ease, and that will free up your thinking, your creativity and your time for the pursuits that light you up.

One last thing…

This past year I finally came to terms with the idea of using the available time for creating. No more could I use the excuse that “I didn’t have time” or “was so busy.” I had to call BS on myself.

What I wanted: large stretches of luxurious time to be creative.

What I had: shorter bits of time in which I could make small advances on my projects.

What I found: deciding to focus on one creative project at a time allowed me to gain momentum even with the smaller increments of time available. So, when I had 10 minutes – I was already ‘on’ and could write 5 sentences, or figure out what photo to use, or take one action towards the next step.   Then, when I do find myself with a free afternoon, I can go deeper, and my brain will more easily drop into the work.

So…it is a fallacy that we need big blocks of time. Just the next step, whatever that is – is an opportunity. Seize it.

And the last, last thing…Tune in on January 13th for the return of The Workbench Podcast.   Happy New Year All… and get Building | Creating!

XXOO, K

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