I hope you had wonderful and relaxing holidays.  We will kick off this year with a series focused on helping us get 2022 started off on the right foot.  This week, I want us to reflect on our north star for 2022.  We will do this by reflecting on what our word or phrase for the year will be.   

At the beginning of every year I take time to reflect and choose a word or phrase that will be my north star for the year.  I’ve found it helps ground me vs. getting lost among setting too many goals.  To identify my one word/phrase I ask myself things like: What went well last year that I want to continue?  Where could things have been better?  What do I want to achieve?  How do I want to feel about things?  What do I want others to notice and say about me? 

As you can see from a screenshot of a vision board I made, this year my phrase is “Channel the chaos”.  After reflecting on the past couple of years, I’ve realized that there will never be a new normal.  As the cliché goes, the only constant will be change.  With constant change comes large amounts of frantic energy as work life, home life, and personal life all evolve at the same time in unexpecting ways.  When this happens, it’s easy to freeze.  It’s also easy to just dig in your heels and struggle against the change, which is exhausting.  With all this in mind, my goal is to take all of this energy and transform it into something useful.  I will channel the chaos into growth.  I will channel the chaos to kinetic energy to help me move forward.  I will channel the chaos and be the conduit for the energy, instead of being the one the energy acts on.  I will channel the chaos and turn it into another reason to care for others more deeply.  If I do these things, I will live this year from a position of being centered and strong.

The challenge: What is your one word or short phrase for the year?  What is your north star? 

Bonus- Below is an explanation for why I chose all of the different images for the vision board. It’s a fun exercise to do. I keep this in my office at home as a constant reminder.

1. Spider-man- always on my vision boards.  Represents connecting people and ideas.  He channels momentum to swing gracefully through the city.

2. I like having a Marvel panel to remind me that I’m surrounded by superheroes and we are all on one team.

3. Uncle Iroh from Avatar the Last Air Bender- Iroh learned how to redirect lightning that was shot at him.  He learned to channel that energy and make it inert, so it wouldn’t hurt him or others.

4. The Juggernaut- Once he gets moving he can’t be stopped.  I want to channel the chaos and turn it into fuel to keep me moving forward.

5. Scarlet Witch- She uses chaotic magic.  I always have a goal of delivering magic, so why not chaos magic?

6. An organized pantry- Often change is overwhelming because we don’t know how to organize it in our brains.  When I get overwhelmed I’ll try to stop to breathe and remember it’s just about organizing the pantry.

7. The quote- turning frustration into something better.  Great reminder.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry