Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were refreshing and as joy-filled as mine. I absolutely love this time of year, a time of reflecting and a time of anticipation of the future. The past few weeks for me has been a balance of getting things done and in motion, a time of reflection and introspection of the year as well as a focus on the future. This can sometimes be a bit overwhelming, but I try and approach this season with the right posture to be able to really hear from God and internalize and process what is needed.

Here are a few things I like to do in this season:

1. Review and audit my Word of the Year. My 2019 Word was Sustainable. I like to open a document and start writing and journaling what I learned, where I grew, what steps I took, and where I failed.

2. Next, I like to open my calendar and on the same document as above I like to go month by month and pull out the major items of the month and categorize them. When you have all twelve months down with all the major items of each month what themes do you see? What stands out, what is missing...and what do you need to do about it? I love this process because my calendar truly reflects what's happening in my world.

3. Last, I like to distill everything down into my next Word of the Year. What has God been speaking, what is he showing me in the details of my life? What path forward do I want to take, and what is the Word that best describes it and will be the rudder or framework for the upcoming year? I have landed my 2020 Word, it is Serve (list of all my words). A word of action and intention, and I am really leaning into it and look forward to sharing more about it in the coming weeks and months.

I pray your 2020 is infinitely more than you can imagine.

In 2020 I will be trying some new approaches with the dispatch and constantly be applying my learnings and your feedback. Speaking of your feedback, please keep it coming. I absolutely love your encouraging emails and it’s a blast running into so many of you and you taking the time to let me know how much you enjoy the dispatch. Thank you!

Today and this weekend take the time to reflect and journal about 2019 and 2020. Lean into this season with intentionality and purpose. With that in mind, here are just two quick articles to inspire and challenge your thinking.

To Speed Up Your Personal Growth, Try Slowing Down. I know, that often flies in the face of conventional wisdom and the pressure of the world we live in today. A world that encourages speed, moving fast and capitalizing on the moment...all the time. Slow down and do more than read this article, take notes, process it and reflect on something you need to apply this year. Read Now

Struggling to find your word? Alli Polin has some great thoughts and quick tips and advice for finding your word of the year. My favorite was, Consider what you're resisting! Whoa, reflect on that for a moment. Read Now

ABOUT THE TERRY STORCH DISPATCH

The Terry Storch Dispatch offers bite-sized chunks of what I'm learning, what I'm reading, and technology tidbits I have found interesting this week. I regularly explore leadership, technology, strategy and faith to help you grow as a parent, student, leader, entrepreneur or pastor. Enjoy!