The exercise is to determine three words you’ll focus on for the following year. I first heard about it from Chris Brogan and then included a chapter in Amazing Things Will Happen. During the Pandemic, I focused on surviving and helping, so I didn’t participate.

This year, as my winter break began and I was noodling over how to spend the weeks ahead, my three words came to me. I wrote them on a sticky note, and it has sat here on my desk collecting dusk and tempting me to change them.

Typically this exercise finds me jotting down words in my Field Notes and trying to focus them down and clear out the extras over the course of many weeks. This is the first time the three popped out and instantly made sense. Perhaps I’m figuring out this thing called life?

Sharpen

As a lifelong learner, I strive to improve my skills continuously. I’m relatively new at teaching in the grand scheme of things. Teaching the same courses every semester means I’m constantly fine-tuning them. This year I want to sharpen them up.

Changes had to be made during the hybrid days. Some worked, and many didn’t. Based on student feedback and personal reasoning, I know some things need to be updated, and I will dive deep into them this year.

Focus

My core DNA is around being a ‘helper.’ This means that I always want to say yes, but this next year I need to focus my efforts and energy towards a couple of specific goals that to complete successfully means I’ll be saying no more than I’m used to.

Thankfully, I’m surrounded by people who primarily support this and understand why these priorities must be what they are. I had to say no to something I’d spent the last five years hoping to be asked to do next year. It was the hardest no I’ve ever let out of my mouth, but I know it was the right thing to do.

Balance

Looking at my first two words, I know a lot is going on in the next twelve months for me, and it’ll be essential to balance out the work, goals, life, family, and everything else that matters. Knowing myself, this will be the hardest of the three words to succeed at, but I’m confident I can pull it off.

I had a little test run at the end of this year, and while the scales went back and forth, I only partially crashed the see-saw, so I will take what I learned and help me through the coming months.

These three words have appeared individually in the past in one capacity or another, which may be why they came together so clearly in my heart and soul this year.

I know myself, and I suck at asking for help, so if you haven’t heard from me in a while or I look down, please give me a hug, hello, or bourbon. No matter my mood, any of those will usually bring a smile to my face and be what I need.

The rest of my winter break plan includes migrating my courses from Moodle to Canvas (yeah!), lots of reading, quality quiet time, and not much else. I hope to see some people I haven’t seen in person in a while, but you never know how schedules may end up.

I hope you have a nice last few days of 2022 and that your 2023 starts on a good foot forward.