Some people make New Year’s resolutions every year. Whether they stick to them or not is their own business. It seems that the actual act of making resolutions can be, in itself, stressful.
One of my friends told me that one year her resolution was to do things outside of her comfort zone. Well, doing these things, as indicated by this very statement, made her uncomfortable. But, to her credit, she did several things that fell into the category, including taking a modern dance class.
In time, the concept has evolved a bit, but with some tweaking this has worked for me.
I’ve set up some guidelines for the induction of my motto and I’m happy with them so far.
First, the holidays are just too crazy to really carefully consider a motto so I’ve given myself until January 31st to lock in my motto. I like to have the first month of the year to see how I think things are going to go that year.
The motto can come from anywhere as long as I feel strongly about it and feel that it will be useful throughout the year. It can be an ad slogan, like Nike’s ‘Just Do It,‘ a saying or even a song title.
One year, I used the phrase “Make it Happen.” This, as you may or may not know, is the title of a Mariah Carey song. I did receive a letter on MC letterhead that was rather scathing, but I stuck to my guns and kept the motto. (More on the letter at a later time.)
In January of one year, I got laid off, was the victim of a hit and run car accident (no injuries) and my apartment suffered serious water damage. I knew then that the year was going to be a challenging one, so, I took the Bonnie Raitt song title, “I Will Not Be Broken” as my motto for that year.
I don’t always use a song title. One year my motto was “Keep Moving Forward” while another year it was simply “Ask.”
I’ve told several friends about my motto and they’re now doing it themselves.
My friend Eric told me recently that he’s going to use the motto “Be Thoughtfully Bold.”
Eric admitted that he got this from the CEO of Cinnabon, Kat Cole. He'd recently heard Cole tell a story about something that happened early in her career. While working as a Hooters waitress, Cole sought other business opportunities and reached out to an executive. That excutive became her mentor and gave her the line, saying it would help with both life and career decisions.
My friend Jill said that the sentiment behind her motto this year is that sometimes she thinks too much about things that overwhelm her and she forgets to enjoy what’s happening right now. So she was thinking that her motto might be “Let go of your control a little and just trust.” But then she considered shortening it to “Just Trust,” or “Appreciate Right Now.”
A motto can be long or short, but personally I think it’s better to have something that you can utter to yourself quickly when you need it. Like when my motto was “I will not be broken,” I clearly remember saying that to myself when I was struggling.
Maybe it’s that I don’t like to get bogged down with too many words, but I think the shorter the better.
Last year’s “Ask” worked great for me. It was simple, decisive and an action that I could do. Sometimes it made me uncomfortable but most of the time I got what I wanted.
I considered carrying “Ask” over to this year. You see one of my guidelines is that you can carry a single motto for up to two years. If it’s good and it works for you, why not?
But while I think I will definitely continue to “Ask,” I wanted something new that would propel me forward.
So, I know the anticipation is killing you, you're dying to know what motto I’ve chosen for this year, aren't you? Well, it wasn’t easy and not without a little drama along the way.
I had just about settled on “Never Stop Improving,” which truthfully is the Lowe’s advertising motto, but I think it’s a great personal motto as well, right? I mean seriously, we should always look to be improving ourselves, right?
So I was ready to lock this in when I went to lunch with my friend Mary Ann and my explanation of my motto was barely out of my mouth when she said, “Your motto should be 'All In.' ”
Damn if she doesn’t know me that well. She knows that I used “Ask” last year to move several areas of my personal and professional life forward and now it’s time to take some real chances and make those moves pay off.
So, at the eleventh hour, I'm locking in "All In" as my motto for 2013.
Thanks Mary Ann. I look forward to the exciting things that going "All In" will bring me this year.
