Episode 34: Setting Intentions and Words for the New Year

In Episode 34 of the Creative Work Hour podcast, Greg and Alessandra explore New Year's resolutions and the concept of a "word of the year." Guests share personal insights on setting intentions and planning for the year ahead.

Greg
00:03 - 00:44
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Creative Work Hour podcast. My name is Greg and today is December the 28th, 2024. Can you believe it's episode 34? This is the time of year where everyone sets new year's resolutions, intentions, ideations and things of that nature. So we thought that we'd have a little conversation around that and then end with asking each person what their normal process is. But Alessandra, you and I were talking about this yesterday and you had raised a notion, which I thought was rather interesting about having a word of the year.

Greg
00:44 - 00:57
And we talked about, you know, even breaking it down more granular than that word of a month. And there's a lot of research on this, isn't there? And I know that you have set words for yourself. You wanna talk a little bit about that?

Alessandra
00:57 - 01:46
Yeah, so here's the thing about the word of the year is it takes the kind of a mentally healthier place of a resolution, because resolution, it feels kind of heavy handed. It feels a little forced to me, but then, you know, I'm a kid of the culture I grew up in. Right. But in having a conversation with our darling Andy Sporing, he talks about a word of the year. And so we started toying around with that. And when Creative Work Hour was doing a weekly Twitter space on creativity and creative health and mental health, that whole interface, we started toying with this.

Alessandra
01:46 - 02:24
And Shadows was there. We just started discussing, well, what if there's just like 1 word of the year? You don't have to make up a sentence and worry about the syntax. You don't have to worry, is this intention driven? Is it manifestation driven? Is it this driven or that? No, it's just a word. It's just a word. And the 1 that he played with in 2022 was acceptance. And so as we progressed in those Twitter spaces, we would talk about that, about once a month, like how's that coming? And it worked out so well for him.

Alessandra
02:24 - 03:01
He did a second year and that year was abundance. And it's really interesting to see how, when you set a word of the year or a month or whatever it is, the scope that you need, how you can see the long tail effects of that, even after that contract term, if you will, is done. So that's where I am with the Word of the Year, it's a light lift. You can change it, you can nuance it, you can add to it. So do I know what my Word of the Year is going to be yet?

Alessandra
03:03 - 03:44
It's a little bit fuzzy, but what I do know is that it's based on the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the architect, who's the 1 so well known for the phrase, Less is more. So I don't know if I'll boil that down to the word less. I don't know what will happen, but just leaving that on the table and playing with it over these next few podcasts through 2025 January, we're just gonna look at things like goals and intentions and manifestations and words of the year, resolutions. We're just going to work with that and see what happens.

Alessandra
03:44 - 04:04
What we want in this conversation is that we're doing something together. We're listening to each other and seeing where we could end up going better, faster, stronger, because we weren't over here in a little all by myself silo. Yeah, I'll hand it back to you, Greg.

Greg
04:05 - 04:34
Thank you. So I'll go around the room, but just to mention who's in the room with us today, there's myself, Greg, Alessandra, we have Devin, we have Bobby B, we have Ken, we have Rochelle, Rochelle, sorry, we have Gretchen, Hillary, Shadows Pub, and Sharon. So thinking about New Year's resolutions and just what you currently do, what do you normally do this time of year? What's your process if you have 1? I'll go to Devin.

Devin
04:38 - 05:11
Thanks, Greg. I really shy away from New Year's resolutions for a lot of different reasons, but it's something that I've had poor experiences with in the past. But when Andy started talking about his 1 word resolution, it sort of felt like something I could manage. And like, honestly, last year, my word was peace. And I feel like that is not finished yet. So I'm just rolling it over. I mean, I'm going to try and not fall into the trap of, well, it has to

Greg
05:11 - 05:40
be different. You can't have the same word 2 years in a row. Well, Apparently it took more than 1 year to manifest, so I'm gonna give it another go and stay with peace as my intention for the new year. Oh, it's a pretty important word as well, peace. Yeah, So I can see that nothing wrong with having that more than 1 year in a row. Bobby B, you're next up on my screen. What about you? What's your process if you have 1?

Ken
05:42 - 06:33
My process has already triggered because I start my personal year on winter solstice. And as I look at all the noise and occurrences and influences swirling around that created a pretty disruptive 2024, I'm leaning into introversion for 2025. The only way I'm going to create the person I want to be is to try everything back to what matters, simplify it, and then there are desires to what level of growth or success or whatever you want to call it the other end but it's going to be all about introversion as a path to get there.

Greg
06:34 - 06:42
I really like that Bobby, introversion, yeah I love that. Ken, what about you, do you have a process for this time of year?

Ken
06:45 - 07:40
Yeah, I kind of, I do have a bit of a process. I think hearing the word resolution for me seems to be outcome focused. And so rather than being focused on the outcome, then of course, I think there's there in the middle maybe is the intention. And then preceding the intention is the motivation. Like what's the thing behind the intention that could be unconscious? Obviously, this is supposed to be a short answer, but I think it has to do with one's relationship to time and space. So how 1 relates to their past and to their future and to the present, and being conscious of all those factors feeding into them the motivation, which then you have the intention, which then has some kind of an outcome.

Ken
07:42 - 07:53
So anyway, I guess enough theory. I'll go with my word, which is initiation. That's going to be my word of the year.

Greg
07:53 - 08:10
Initiation. I love that. Initiation. I love that. Yeah, you can certainly get lost in that exploration, appealing back those layers to see what's lurking around the corners. Absolutely love that, Ken. Rochelle, what about you? Do you have a process? What's your process normally look like?

Rochelle
08:12 - 08:59
Thanks, Greg. I'm with Devin, trying to shy away from resolutions or outcomes. And actually, when I was writing a lot on Twitter, it was my little brother, Nico, in Chicago, that brought up 3 words for the New Year's. So that has always been 1 of my contemplations. My words, the first was from my meditation teacher, Sandra Barnard, up in Meadville, Pennsylvania at the Full spectrum school of healing. She always said, awareness is key. So my first 1 is awareness because if I'm not even aware, I'm kind of lost. And then the second is focus. What am I focusing on?

Rochelle
08:59 - 09:49
What am I telling myself? Because that can lead into manifestation or down a rabbit hole. I don't want to go. So awareness and focus and the last 1 is bliss. You know, follow my bliss. I think in the past, so often I've tried to be the good girl and make everyone else happy. And I'm starting to realize what makes me happy. And what would happen if I followed joy, instead of avoiding fear or going that negative route. So this is a new year and this is a whole new kind of focus for me. But that's what I'm gonna kind of contemplate, awareness and focus and bliss.

Greg
09:50 - 10:26
Thank you, Rochelle. I love that. Yeah, it does all start with awareness, doesn't it? And, you know, if we're not aware of where we want to get to, how on earth will we possibly get there? So I know it's a little bit of a cliche but true nonetheless. Gretchen, you're next up on my screen. Are you with us Gretchen? And if so, what's your process look like? Okay, and Gretchen must have stepped away from the screen. Hilary, you're next up on my screen. What about you? What's your process this time of year? What does that look like if you have 1?

Hillary
10:27 - 11:33
Thank you, Greg. My process. Well, I'll start off by saying I don't run my process through the Gregorian calendar, so New Year's concept isn't my trigger. I'll jump, because it's cyclical, So I'll jump onto the cycle anytime. It's just the world evolving. And when it comes to, yeah, the goal setting, setting intention, things like that. So many tools in the tool belt, but those tools are only good if I use them. I've got a lot of tools sitting in the toolbox and they're just sitting there collecting dust. And you know I'm glad this is today's subject And I went to a manifestation webinar yesterday and it really rekindled the energy that you create for yourself.

Hillary
11:35 - 12:28
Going through the process of this kind of spending the time to think about what you want, Defining what you want. You know, what is that end goal? You can plan your life like a vacation, any part of your life. So a vacation, when you decide you're going to go to another state to go visit a site and things like that. You set the goal, the end goal of what you want, how you want it to feel, what experience you want to have, And then you figure out how you'll do it. You don't say, I want to go out of state and visit a museum and be like, I can't because I don't know how to get there.

Hillary
12:28 - 13:12
I don't know where I'll sleep when I'm there. You say I want to go. And then you figure out how. And you can do that with anything. I realized I did that when I bought my first house. I didn't know how to buy a house, but I said I wanted to. And then I started figuring out how. But that's just 1 of those little things, those little bits of stuff. But then again, this goes back to tools, belief systems, you know, like I got so much stuff. So I won't even spend the time talking about that unless we've got more time and that's not today.

Hillary
13:13 - 13:25
So I will pass the ball, the flated ball back. Oh, 0, okay. So back to the word of the year. Why do I feel like my ball, my word needs to be re-inflate?

Greg
13:29 - 13:42
Re-inflate, I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. Yeah. Using the tools and setting an intention. Thanks. Thanks, Hilary. Shadows, you're next up on my screen. What about you? What's your process?

Shadows Pub
13:45 - 14:18
So January 1st is a six-month reset. I have 1 resolution, the same resolution every year. There shall be no blank resolutions. Word of the year, like I need to add another word to what I do. So at this point, I look back on what's happened in the last 6 months. What worked, what didn't work, what do I want to add, what do I want to get rid of? And then I decide what carries on. That's it.

Greg
14:20 - 15:01
But the heart does go on and we're thinking of Celine Dion for some reason, but yeah, love it. Thanks, shadows. Sharon, what's your process when it comes to this? Do you have a process and what does that look like? Do you have resolutions or don't you? And Sharon may have stepped away. But, You know, I always struggle with this personally, setting resolutions and Alessandra, it was like you and I were talking about, if you, it's almost can get tied up in legalese, you know, what is a resolution? What's the definition of resolution? And you can analyze it to death.

Greg
15:01 - 15:27
And then if you set a resolution and you fail it could be a self-fulfilling prophecy. So but I was talking about and you had said well if you had to pick a word and I was thinking searching would be a good one. I like the idea of searching, but I'll bring it back around to you. You know, what are your, you know, we've heard some, some takes, and I'll pass it back to you for some closing remarks.

Alessandra
15:28 - 16:25
Well, thank you, Greg. And I, I like searching, because it's like, when you said that to me yesterday, I'm like, searching. Yeah, searching. And that's kind of like the opposite of resolution. Like as a musician, the word resolution, well, it refers to chord structure. Like here you go, you're playing jingle bells or happy birthday or whatever. And in order to get to that very, very last note, the last chord, the progression has to resolve. 

It doesn't mean I have to commit to XYZ at the beginning of the year. No, that's not what it means at all. Resolution means how does something finish? For instance, if you're playing happy birthday to you, before you get to that very, very, very last note, happy birthday to, It's that note, it's that chord that has to resolve you. So it's not about how things start, it's how they finish. And if the finishing is about the outcome, like what Ken was saying, that's the resolution. It's not how you start. So part of what we're gonna do before we leave you all is we're just gonna pass around the room words that can be changed, dumped, or augmented, but for our little crew of the creative work hour.

Alessandra
17:29 - 17:56
This crew that comes together every day to work on stuff that's important to our own creative health. We're just gonna throw in a basket 1 word to come up with a word or set of words for creative work hours togetherness word of the year. So I'm starting with the word togetherness and I will pass it to Devin. What's your creative work hour word of the year?

Devin
17:58 - 17:58
Support.

Hillary
18:04 - 18:05
Connection. Journey. Connection.

Rochelle
18:09 - 18:10
Journey.

Greg
18:15 - 18:15
Adventure. Thankful. Adventure.

Shadows Pub
18:19 - 18:19
Thankful.

Greg
18:25 - 18:26
Who hasn't gone?

Ken
18:27 - 18:31
Astride. Time travel.

Ken
18:32 - 18:35
Time travel.

Alessandra
18:42 - 18:50
And Sharon, we're going to come back to you, Sharon. What were you going to say a little bit earlier when you couldn't quite get back to us?

Sharon
18:54 - 19:29
I basically wanted to talk about what I do in the closing at this time. So with me, what I do at the end of this period is that I like to go into nature and like introspect and I also like to do my yearly reviews for at the end of the year so that I can close the year off. But like last year and the year before that, I had this fear of, let me just get everything in by the end of the year, but this year I'm going to make sure everything just rolls over to January and just make sure this period is calm for me.

Alessandra
19:32 - 19:40
I love that. And if you have a word to toss into the basket for a word of the year for creative work hour, what might that be?

Sharon
19:43 - 19:43
Balance.

Alessandra
19:46 - 20:10
Love it. Awesome. Did we get everybody? Gretchen, are you there? I bet she's recording. Greg, I've been writing, busy writing everybody's words down over here. So I think I may have gotten lost in the mix. Did we get everyone?

Greg
20:13 - 20:16
I'm glad that you're taking notes because I've already forgotten my word.

Alessandra
20:16 - 20:17
So searching,

Greg
20:18 - 20:24
searching, know the word for, for the creative work hour, I think, for a different naming for that. So yeah,

Alessandra
20:24 - 20:28
we're going to keep working on it over the next few podcasts. So

Greg
20:28 - 21:04
the recording. Imagine that. So, okay, well, that you heard it here first, but it's that time, You've done it again. You've wasted a perfectly few good minutes listening to the creative work hour podcast when you could have been doing something else. But what about yourself? What do you normally do this time of year? What's your process? Do you have new year's resolutions and what do they look like? How would you decide what they are? Let us know. We would love to hear. Come back again next week for another crazy episode and we'll continue the journey.

Greg
21:04 - 21:05
Thank you.