A Word to Build a Year On

I am continually in search of my better self.  It's through this  personal self development that I was able to gain the courage and self knowledge to leave an unhappy marriage and create a new life for myself and my two young daughters.  Over the course of many years I  have spent time and money in counselors offices, reading self help books, writing, journaling and numerous other activities that caused me to look into myself.   Through all of this I started to find what it was that made me happy and what changes that I needed to make to ensure that I was living a life that I was proud of and that made me want to wake up (almost) every morning.

Now, with the wonderful world of blogdom it's possible to find wonderful life coaches online who have great ideas for introspection. I've got a folder in my Google Reader that I go to to read posts when I'm feeling a bit frustrated and stuck.  (something that happens frequently)  This year I came across the idea of a word of the year on Christine Kane's blog.  The idea is that instead of making resolutions a person chooses a word and that word guide that person throughout the year.  A word becomes a talisman.  I encourage you to visit her site and read the post that I've linked to.  Especially the section about Why Resolutions Don't Work.

"The best order for creating positive changes in your life is the BE-DO-HAVE model. This means you start from the BE level. When you begin changing on the BE level of your life, then the DO level and the HAVE level follow more easily."

For those of you reluctant to click a link, the idea is that  the problem with resolutions is a person focuses on the wrong part of the change you want to happen.  Instead of focusing on the end result we spend our energy working on what we have to do.  That becomes overwhelming to when results aren't forthcoming.  The idea is to live your life with intention.

I have done this with my work.  My word for work happens to be Intentionality.  It's my belief that teachers need to have an intention behind what they do in the classroom for their teaching to be most effective.  There should be a reason behind how rooms are arranged, behind the stories read and the projects done.  Every minute in a classroom needs to have an intentional focus and not just time fillers.  In the middle of a consultation I will refer back, in my mind, to my word.  When a teacher tells me what she's been doing with her students or in her room I will ask her "Why?"   The question "Why?" is maddening when there is no intention behind an action. that is when you get the answer, "Because".   In my office I have the word framed above my desk.  When I go into a classroom for an observation I have the word written at the top of the legal pad I take notes on.  I surround my self with intentionality in the hopes of having it in my own work and  being able to inspire it in the teachers I work with.

So now I'm taking the idea out into my life.

I'm creating a group with my co-moderator Lainie called Word of the Year 2009.  Find your word and we'd love to see what word you've chosen and why.