For the last several years, I’ve picked a word for the year. For me, it’s a way of being intentional about what I want to create in my business and life in the coming year.
I thought about more than a couple words for 2019 but I kept coming back to the same idea. (Okay, it’s two words.) Paradigm shift.
Because I’m a “words person,” I looked up these definitions:
Paradigm: a model or pattern for something that may be copied; a theory or a group of ideas about how something should be done, made, or thought about.
A paradigm shift is defined as “an important change that happens when the usual way of thinking about or doing something is replaced by a new and different way.”
I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of change, of finding ways to do things differently, that will serve me better. No doubt that’s a big reason why I do what I do.
Wayne Dyer said, “When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.” An example of this in my own life: When I was a young adult and super-weight conscious, if I put on a few pounds, I would immediately think I had to go “on a diet.” I’d lose the weight, go off the diet, and typically be right back to where I started in very short order. I had a “diet mentality,” in that it was something one went on and off.
It wasn’t until I stopped looking at what I ate as a “diet” and simply started focusing on healthy, clean eating, and what would fuel my body best, that my weight became something of a non-issue. Over many years, it may fluctuate a pound or two, but that’s about it.
I don’t deprive myself of enjoying food, and I haven’t had a thought about dieting in years. What happened: I changed the way I looked at food, and my relationship with food and my body changed.
Another example of a shift in paradigm is how we look at our work. We can look at it as something to get through every day, put in the time to get a paycheck, and go home. Or we can look at it as an opportunity to serve, as a calling, something that will improve the lives of others. We can choose to find purpose in what we do. Paradigm shift.
We can look at an obstacle as a problem, or we can choose to look at it as an opportunity to find a creative solution. When we’ve made more than our fair share of school runs one week, we can reframe it: “I get to do this, I get to have more time with my kids,” not “I have to do this, it’s one more chore.”
What are you dealing with in your life today that you might be able to view in a different light – maybe as a learning experience, or a way to find more meaning. That’s my goal this year – to find new ways to look at things – how I operate in my life and business, how I think about things and view situations and challenges. I’m looking for ways to shift my perspective, to grow. What about you?