I usually send my Word of the Year email and wish folks a Happy New Year in early January.
This year, I think we’re all ready to get to 2021 as soon as we can!
I had a tough time choosing a word this year (as I did last year). There is still uncertainty with how things will play out in the coming months regarding the vaccine and the pandemic. While I’m quite optimistic about how things will be going by the summer of 2021, I’m less so about the first several months of the year.
I played with a lot of different words along the way including Excellence, Reset, and Flourish. None of them were capturing my feeling that we are turning a new page and can take this transformational moment and start creating anew. Somewhere in my ponderings, I was reminded of the song Unwritten (by Natasha Bedingfield), which my kids loved when it was released in 2005 and which I’d always thought of as an anthem for young people to be open to new experiences and to their own explorations without being tied down to others expectations. Now I think of it as appropriate even for those of us well past our youthful days…
“Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten”
And so, the rest is still unwritten for me, for you, and for our business and personal growth. Wishing you a wonderful New Year holiday and some meaningful intention-setting for 2021!