I've been a follower of Ali Edwards for a very long time, and have chosen a One Little Word for the past five years or so. This year I signed up for her workshop and have been contemplating my Word for about three weeks. I was looking for a word that went beyond making plans and having big ideas, and instead focused on action to actually get things done. I tossed around ideas like Act, Strive, Action, Complete, Create, Produce, etc. All these were variations on a great theme, but none really felt like what I was aiming for.
Then over the weekend, I was browsing through a thesaurus online and enjoying my morning coffee, still not finding anything that really felt right, when my 7 month old got hungry. I started nursing him and browsed some more on my phone, and his little hand started grasping for my screen. I moved the phone away and glanced down at him, told him he was a silly monkey and too young for a phone, then browsed some more. He reached up again, and this time when I looked at him, I actually *looked* at him, and when my eyes met his he lit up like the sun! The sweet smile on his face was like a bolt of lightening through the cloud of overwhelm I was feeling! I put down the phone and gazed at him as he continued to nurse, and I had my epiphany. I was so focused on accomplishing my crazy To Do list, that I lost focus of *why* I wanted to get things done!
For many years I have had wall art in my studio that says "You cannot do everything at once, but you can do Some thing, at once." It was set aside in the shuffle of moving my studio and was never put back up. Coupled with that, I have long included "Do One Thing" on my weekend chores checklist, so that I pick some niggling little task from my list that needs to be done, and it usually takes ten minutes or less! Why I procrastinate on these things, I'll never know! It does the job, though, every weekend I do one thing that I would otherwise have ignored. After all, it's just one tiny thing, not some huge commitment, right?
All of that background noise distilled into a clear thought while I nursed my little guy. I thought to myself, "Don't lose sight of what is truly important. Be here, in this moment, because he won't care if the house is clean or if you have a stack of UFO's waiting to be finished. Focus on this one moment, and enjoy it fully, because you cannot get it back! Do one thing at a time, and do it to the best of your ability!"
There it was again: Do One Thing. Just one, that isn't too difficult. Anyone can do One thing, but EVERYTHING starts with One thing!! And there it was, flashing neon couldn't have made it more obvious: my One Little Word was just that. One.
Ali encourages words that have multiple meanings, giving more opportunity to apply your word to your entire life. In my case, One applies to so many aspects if my life, it's like an entire paragraph of OLW's!
Get up and do One thing on your To Do list.
Take One step to make progress toward my goals.
Do One thing at a time.
Make wise food choices for One day.
Purge One drawer/box/thing right now.
Sew One block together.
Finish One project.
Post One thing on Etsy.
Buy the supplies for One project. The supplies can live at the store until that project is done!
We all know about how once were moving, momentum comes into play, so I doubt that One thing will stay only one thing! But it's a commitment-free place to start, and the start is what I really need! So here's to 2015, the year if One, it will be amazing!!
