Forget resolutions in 2022: Welcome a surprising year with a great question!
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t made a New Year’s Resolution in decades. It’s probably the least creative way to get anything done.
I’ll admit that I use it to do short term things every year, giving myself one month to accomplish the task: clean out the closet, send three letters of gratitude to old friends, clean out my email inbox. You get the idea. But the annual, long-term resolutions always seemed to come from “shoulds” that reflected my weaknesses and challenges, not my strengths and interests.
I’ve found a better way to transform my year creatively: ask a question that will guide me in exploring possibility all year long! One of my students years ago told me I asked impossible questions – and that’s what she loved about working with me, because she found amazing and unexpected answers as she explored. I’ve always pushed my writing forward with open-ended, challenging questions. But it wasn’t until two years ago that I opened up my life with them.
Just to let you know, these questions can open up your life without burdening you with excessive seriousness! I’ve found that when I ask an open-ended question, it recharges me whether it leads me to a year of play or to a year of diving into serious writing. Trust your gut — you’ll expand no matter what question you choose, if it’s a great question!
For example, the first year, I asked myself a playful question: How many ways can I play with dinosaurs in my new house? That was fun – I documented my year’s experiment with photographs, and my inner child was full of joy, as was my year. I received a shot of energizing playfulness that fed my friendships, my work, and my imagination.
Read more in the January On Purpose Woman Magazine to learn strategies for asking great questions!
You can see the shot of their arrival in the main picture for this blog! They went on to learn how to cook, dance, open a restaurant, meditate, and build shelters — as well as climbing over everything in the house including oil paintings, plants, and bathroom sinks. It was a lot of fun, that culminated in a dinosaur Christmas Card, a cameo in my latest children’s book about coping with pandemic isolation, The Stay at Home Bears, and a much needed recharge of my natural inclination to explore with curiosity. It also made me laugh, and helped me cope with the unexpected lockdown that arrived unwelcome with the pandemic. On the whole, a very successful question for that very challenging year!
So what question is rising up in you? This year, my question is more mundane than the dinosaur year — I’m asking: Which of my backburnered writing projects do I want to bring into the world this year? I’ll let you know in December!
The keys to a good guiding question are:
1. You don’t know the answer.
2. It piques your curiosity and interest (no shoulds involved!).
3. It rises from your core, and feeds your energy.
So give up on task-based, aspirational resolutions — at least for your yearlong exploration. Ask a great question, and surprise yourself with a great year.