A New Mantra for a New Year
I have never been a big fan of New Year’s resolutions. For me they always felt arbitrary, and the lack of passion I felt for my resolutions typically meant that they would be forgotten by February.
A few years ago, I had an aha moment and started playing with an action statement in the form of a simple mantra instead of choosing a resolution. And it worked!
My 2019 mantra was “Lift the walls.”
My 2020 mantra was “Leak the content.”
The working draft of my 2021 mantra is “Bring it home.”
Now, the words in my mantras might not mean anything to you. That’s ok. The point is that they mean something to me.
If you decide to craft your own mantra for 2021, give up the need for other people to understand it. If YOU understand it, that is what counts. If YOU know what it means, if YOU know what it looks like in action, if YOU know how it will inform your decision-making, that is the point.
I’m going to take you through the thought process behind choosing my mantra for 2021: Bring it home. If this process sounds interesting to you, I hope you’ll give it a try.
I’ve learned that in order for me to start the new year off with a mantra that will actually work, I need be able to answer “yes” to these three questions:
Is it active enough?
Is it broad enough?
Do I care about it enough?
If I get a “no”, I need to go back, rethink, and revise.
Is it active enough?
In other words, can I put myself on the hook for making choices that bring me into alignment with my mantra? Can I actually DO something to bring my mantra to life?
If my 2021 mantra is active enough, I can start the day with “How might I bring it home today?” and end the day with “How did I bring it home today?”
I can measure my progress and make adjustments if I am off course.
Back in my ineffective New Years resolution days, these questions would have been a disaster.
“How might I lose 10 pounds today?”
“How did I lose 10 pounds today?”
Yikes. Every day would have felt like a failure. No wonder I gave up.
Is it broad enough?
I need my mantra to be broad enough that it can have numerous meanings and applications. The irony here is that the broader the mantra, the more specific you can be about applying it to unique circumstances.
What I love about “bring it home” is that depending on what “it” is, the meaning can totally change.
Bring it home can mean bring it back to center, back to the Why, back to the grace space.
Bring it home can mean take it across the finish line, cross home plate, complete the project.
Bring it home can mean focus on my literal abode.
Bring it home can mean rely on my trusted inner circle of collaborators.
And so much more.
When I apply my broad mantra very specifically, I am able to make stronger choices and better decisions.
Do I care about it enough?
I mean REALLY care. Like, care enough to do the hard part, the emotional labor. Let’s be honest, if the mantra was easy for me, I wouldn’t need the mantra, would I? So I have to intentionally choose something that is challenging AND worth it. I need to care enough to allow it to weave into the way I show up every day, the way I talk, the way I think, the way I make choices. Do I care enough to allow this to drive my decision-making?
If I don’t care enough, my mantra will just be nice words on a sticky note. I have to do the work to know why “bring it home” is so important to me. What do I stand to gain by focusing my choices on bringing it home and what I stand to lose if I don’t?
Caring is key. Otherwise, why bother?
If you decide to go on the mantra journey this year, I’d love to hear what you land on.
Here’s to a happier, more creative, more fulfilling 2021.