New Year, New Theme: 4 Suggestions for 2017

Here we go…2017 is almost upon us. Now, you’ve been around long enough to know a few things; notably, that you can prepare in countless ways for what you think is going to happen in your life, only to experience something that wasn’t even on your radar. It’s like prepping for a public speech or performance by double-checking every piece of necessary equipment, and when you walk onto the stage or field, you realize you may have food poisoning. In spite of your best efforts, it’s going to be a long night.

In light of this Murphy’s Law world we live in, what can we do to prepare ourselves for the best year possible? Feel free to make resolutions, to make formal plans, and also to prepare for the unexpected. What I like to do, however, is to plan a theme for the coming year. Planning a theme frees me from the illusion that I’ll create and possibly achieve a bunch of contrived goals and instead simply points my head in the right direction and keeps me open to hearing and seeing that which will move me along the chosen path. It’s more of a choice of direction rather than charting out every step.

As an example, last year began with my wife, Carie, moving to Florida for a month-and-a-half for military training. As a result, my personal theme for the year was ‘Kids.’ While it could be argued that every year should could be kid themed when you have five daughters, my choice of direction was built around keeping them reasonably well fed, educated, and clothed while mom was out-of-town. I setup systems in my work that allowed maximum freedom to manage the kids’ needs, I created spreadsheets for tracking everything from emergency babysitter contact information to household cleaning. By choosing a ‘Kids’ theme for the year, I created the headspace that allowed me to keep the plates spinning successfully whereas I might have easily become overwhelmed.

Of course, I won’t pretend to know what your 2017 theme should be. It’s a very personal choice.

Here are four themes I’ve heard people adopting for themselves:

De-Clutter – Maybe this is the year to free yourself from unnecessary stuff by renting a dumpster and changing your life (click on this link for a past article built around this theme).

Restore Relationships – If you’ve fallen away from friends or loved-ones that are meaningful to you, this theme could inspire you to reach out to them and schedule a regular meet-up for dinner or other activities throughout the year. You never know; they could be needing a friend more than ever.

Healthy Eating – Yeah, yeah, I know. Interestingly, a health scare causes people to make any number of positive lifestyle changes such as diet. Why not be preemptive and do the same in your life before a health scare arises? Make a list of healthy food options, create a shopping list, join a formal group, etc.

Dream Hobby – That dream you’ve had of learning the piano someday or building a website or trying glass-blowing isn’t going to happen unless you make it so. Why not create a theme around this sort of life enrichment? Activate that dormant part of your brain and finally turn the dream into reality. With this sort of theme, you may choose to contact a private piano teacher who will come to your house to save the embarrassment of going to a studio with eight year-old girls who may out-play you. Find a glass-blowing class at the art museum, or search the community college’s website for adult learning classes. I know a guy who chooses a different hobby each year and is a brilliant conversationalist as a result.

New Year, New Theme?

The point of a theme is not to set formal goals but to create the proper head-space to explore areas that may be deeply fulfilling for you or to simply be better able to navigate areas that could potentially be challenging this year. Sure, life will still happen, but the year will have a very different story arc than if you simply let time pass without applying your intention to it.

All the best,

Adam Cufr, RICP®