It’s funny how patterns and themes emerge in your life. This year, I never set out to embrace a theme word or phrase or anything. Rather, it happened almost accidentally. But once I saw the trend, I decided to embrace that direction.
My word for 2013 is “Delete.”
I’m sure you’ve heard of a few people out there in internet-land blogging about their word(s) of the year. It may be one word, three words, or whatever. Chris Brogan has three theme words for each year. In 2010, I had two theme words.
It’s a good idea, since it gives you a theme for your year. It’s a way to act more intentionally.
DELETE.
It’s kind of negative, isn’t it?At first, maybe. But I think it can be positive. Because when you delete things you don’t need or use, you have more room to breathe, to do things you really want to do. There’s more room for me to be creative and make stuff.
At the end of December and the beginning of January, I unsubscribed from email newsletters that I never read. I unfollowed RSS feeds, Twitter-ers, Facebook friends who never update. Deleted iPhone apps I haven’t used in months. Back in the fall, when the U.S. Presidential Election season was in full swing, I used third-party tools to filter out all the polarizing comments.
Why am I doing this?
IT JUST WASN’T ADDING ANY VALUE TO MY LIFE.
This doesn’t just have to be digital: you can unsubscribe from magazines you never read. Stop hanging out with negative people. Toss clothes you haven’t worn in 2 years. Get rid of clutter in your house.So, in 2013, I am trying to carefully weigh whether things are adding value to my life. If not, I need to delete them.
Do you have a theme word for the year? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.