108: Setting Intentions: Word of the Year | Featuring Lisa Jacobs

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Lisa Jacobs. It's 2024.

We're here. We made it. We did it. 2024.

Another year in the books and we open up a brand new book for this year, which I' feels good.

Yeah, it really does.

I love talking to you at the beginning of every new year. So you and the way that you think about your years and annual planning and really coming into that like energy of that January energy is something that you talk about like no one else. And it always resonates with me so much. So I'm so excited to talk to you today about our intention for 2024.

Yes. And to me, I get chills. It's just the most wonderful time of the year. I get excited for it starting in October and then in December. Just I'm in a series of deep reflection. And in the January time frame when you have all of this frenetic, excited energy, it's the perfect time to channel everything you're doing into the goals and the dreams that you have set up for the year. And so today I'm very excited because we're going to walk through a process.

I'm Bonnie Christine. And this is where all things creativity, design, business and marketing unite. I'm a mama living in a tiny town tucked right inside the Smoky Mountains, running a multi seven figure business, doing the most creative and impactful work of my life. But when I first started set out to become an entrepreneur, I was struggling to make ends meet and wrestling with how to accomplish my biggest dream of becoming a fabric designer. Fast forward to today. I'm not only licensing my artwork all over the world, but also teaching others how to design their creative life and experience the same success. I'm here to help you spend your life doing something that lights you up. I'll help you build a creative business that also creates an impact, changes people's lives, gives you all of the freedom you want, and is wildly profitable. Welcome to the Professional Creative Podcast.

One of the things we're going to look at is the theme of the year. And then we're going to summarize that with a word. And, and this is, this is sort of par for the course. Anytime we're planning content for the year or looking at a big picture narrative, I always sort of want to stop and say, what are we feeling? What. What are we collectively experiencing right now? What do we want to honor in any of the content or material that we put out? What's the overarching narrative that we can kind of agree on? And it won't be exact, but you're going to hear Bonnie and I talk through it right now. And one thing that I find to be so interesting for 2024 is that the theme that I'm sort of sensing is that I feel like we have several times decided we've come to a new normal. And we've come to this new normal because we've been experiencing a global pandemic. We went from in person to virtual in so many instances. And we have really given each phase of that change the title New Normal. And what I'm feeling is that normal hasn't exactly been established yet. And I think 2024 is going to be an interesting establishment of the new roles because we've been balancing out this out. What it reminds me of is jet lag when you travel because we collectively went through something and then we've been exhausted by it and we've just been trying to get back on track. And when you travel long distances, one of the main reasons that you would experience jet lag is because of all of the unfamiliarity and uncertainties that you walk through as you navigate new airports and you scan unfamiliar faces. Our, our brains are processing way more than we realize at any given time. And so your brain is constantly gauging the sense of threat or security or safety at any given moment. And so you can liken what we've experienced over these last few years, sort of to that jet lag experience, sort of to. We have been really navigating unfamiliar territory. We've dealt with a lot of uncertainties and we keep trying to level the playing field and get comfortable with the landscape. But I think the theme of 2024 is going to be a restabilizing. I think we might have been in survival mode more than we might have realized. And I think it's going to be a revival. That's what I'm feeling. What are you thinking, Bonnie? What does this year as a whole feel like for you?

You know, this. I have to share this story when you're talking about this jet lag thing, because it reminds me of the last time I got jet lag. And so this was about a year and a half ago, a year and change ago. And we went to Hawaii and so I'm on the east coast. So Hawaii is a six hour time change for me. And so when we came back, we had a red eye flight on the way back. So I had gotten fully adjusted to the time there.

Right.

Red eye flight, came back and then I went to bed at like 8pm so early, but pretty much on time. Woke up, got like 12 hours of sleep, woke up the next day feeling like a million bucks. So this was Sunday night. I remember it. Monday I was awesome. Tuesday, I was awesome. Wednesday I was like, I just owned that jet lag. Like I crushed it. And Thursday, Lisa, I hit such a wall, I could not get out of bed. And in a lot of ways that actually kind makes me think about the last four years. I was like, I did it. We came through. We're all good. And it was almost like this delayed hitting of a wall. Like, oh my gosh, what have we just been processing? It was like a delayed, a little bit of a lag for me. I don't know if that's true for everyone, but it was actually a little bit later, like 2021 that was really hard. And then there was like a recalibrating in 2022 and 2023. You know, I. I'm feeling like we're in a good place. I definitely can sense the same thing is like we're. We're grasping for normal. We're grasping for what's true. We're grasping for what feels. You know, it's just there's a lot of moving parts. Like even if we're beyond and healed from a lot of what happened in with COVID there's so many new like questions like AI and just all this newness plus 2024 is going to be a big year in a lot of.

Yes, I love that. And, you know, the newness is not something to fear. Although since we've been through so much change, you might be a little bit more fearful of it than you would normally be. But when you even mention AI, I'm thinking of my children in school, and they're encouraging everything away from AI. And I'm like, you are actually doing them a disservice. You need to be training them how to use AI to leverage their already existing knowledge, skills, and abilities so that they can do even more with that talent. Of course, we're not talking about plagiarizing. Of course we're not talking about being dependent on the thing. But if we don't start adopting some of those changes, then we'll be left behind.

Yeah, I agree.

When I kind of approach this, I always come up with a word. I love having a word that kind of encapsulates, like, this larger theme. And for me, it's.

It's two.

I kind of have this business word that relates to all of my career aspirations. And then I also have a personal one. Do we want to talk about Our word for 2024?

I love this exercise. Let's do it.

I do, too. It impacts me in a great way every single year. So my word last year was possibilities. I felt so just open, ready. I was looking at world with open arms, ready to grasp whatever they kind of threw my way. And I thought about it the entire year. And it helps when I may feel like playing small. And I have to remind myself, no, this is. This year is all about possibility. And so I like to have it on something. I like to wear like a. Like a necklace or a bracelet with my word on it. I like to keep it at my workstation. I like to live and breathe this word as a reminder throughout the entire year. I think it also just helps with, like, a guidance for decisions. It gives me a lens to make decisions around. So, okay, I'm going to start with my business word.

Okay.

Then we'll move to personal. So my business word is authenticity. Authenticity is something that's on the top of my mind. I shared recently in a podcast episode around ideas for 2024, how this is really where I think we are moving. Like, the theme of the year is authenticity. And it really kicked off for me when the Webster dictionary announced that their word for 2024 was authenticity. So not being that original here, but the concept behind it is so impactful. And it's because they. They identify this word based on search, amount of times searched, but also amount of times that other things have been searched as well. And so the. That things like Deepfake was searched and, you know, is this fake or real was searched really brought authenticity to the forefront. And it's. It's something that I believe in wholeheartedly and struggle with just a little bit. When I show up specifically on Social now, I don't struggle being authentic, but I struggle with just, like, you know, opening up the camera and hitting play. No matter what we're doing, it just doesn't feel super natural to me. And so I'm always trying to remind myself, like, let them see you in whatever it is you're doing, like, be transparent. So this word authenticity to me represents being willing to be vulnerable, being willing to be transparent in what. What you're doing and who you are, but also actually being who you say you are. So it, you know, being the person on the other end of the camera, the person on the other end of the chat or whatever, it is like, fully leaning into heartfelt authenticity. Because I think the real opportunity here is that authenticity doesn't really matter until it gets questioned. And once it's questioned, then those who are authentic just kind of, like, bubble to the top. And so I think really embracing, really being willing to show up, being vulnerable, being transparent, and being authentic in everything that I do is my goal for the business side of everything that I do in 2024.

Yeah, I think you've explained that very well, that it makes a lot of sense, and I think it's needed. That's wonderful.

Do you have one word or two words?

Well, I'll tell you that after you do the. You do your personal.

Okay, I actually really prefer to just have one word. But one thing is, like, it's just. You'll see when I tell you. So my personal word is discipline. It's discipline. And I actually feel very disciplined when it comes to business and career and my work and my team. Like, I feel very disciplined. But this weird thing happens in my personal life, like, around waking up early to read or do devotions or making. Being super consistent. Now, I'm, you know me, Lisa. I'm pretty consistent, but sometimes I'm not super disciplined. And so I will typically go into, like, two or three months where I am very, incredibly disciplined. And then it's like, I earned two or three months to, like, not be. So I very much want consistent discipline over the next year. I want to know what it would truly look like to choose what I want most over what I want now consistently, for the entire year. That's my goal, is to choose what I want most over what I want now for the entire year.

That's a big undertaking. But I see and I understand why you went with two words for the duplicity of that. I faced a similar challenge. I was concentrating on my word today, and I have been doing some soul searching, and I recently finished the book Untethered Soul. Combine that with just sort of our natural fears and desires. And so if you boil down any fears or desires, at the heart of it, or the threat of it would be the feelings for freedom, joy, and peace. Freedom, joy, and peace. So that's what we're seeking. Boil down any desire. Boil down any fear. You're afraid something's threatening your freedom, joy, or peace, or you're doing something, you're craving something because you're craving that feeling of freedom, joy, or peace inside of it. And I wrap love inside of joy because we're very joyful when we're very loving. So combine that with Untethered Soul. And everything about it was becoming more grounded and more centered in your practice. So for my word, it was very challenging because I want to say freedom, joy, and peace. And I'm choosing the word untethered because I thought I want that, and I'm going to become untethered from anything that limits my freedom, joy, and peace. So untethered is the one word that I could put together with that so that I could keep in mind those feelings that I'm craving, that I'm protecting and that matter most.

That makes a lot of sense.

I love that. I kind of see you as like a balloon.

Yes. Yes. I would love to just float. Yes. So I'm going to release the ties that bind me or at all. Restrict those three feelings that we're craving. And I love to think about that, too. It's a good. It's sort of a good test against a filter for if you're looking to buy something and you're like, why am I. What am I craving? And it's typically something freedom, joy, or peace. Or you've heard somebody else talk about it, and they talked about it with such a sense of freedom, joy, or peace, what something like that is in there. And so I think it's just a good filter to put against your choices and your decisions. And then it kind of plays back into what you said about the discipline to be making the right decisions. And how can I give that to myself now type of feeling, doing what's. Doing what's good for the long term versus what I would like to escape in the short term. So I think it all ties together. I love this exercise though. And I really love listening to anybody's word for the year and hearing their direction. I think it's just such a fascinating conversation.

Yeah, I do too. And then keep it close to us. Keep it right in front of us for the entire year. Let it help us inform our decisions. Let it help us grow and connect on a deeper level and let us go into 2024 with intention.

I love it. One thing I like to do to close sort of my New year planning is to find a quote that speaks to me, speaks to the year, or speaks to the particular situation. And so I found this and I wanted to share it, you and your listeners. It is from Tom Peters. Celebrate what you want to see more of. And may you have so much to celebrate this year, Bonnie and everyone listening. I wish you so much to celebrate, everyone.

Happy New Year. We would love to hear what Your word for 2024 is, my friends. Create the beauty that you want to see. Come alive in the world. And remember, remember, there's room for you.