Three Words
One thing I picked up last year was during a presentation at a work event. The presenters had everyone do an exercise he uses to help businesses identify who they are and clarify their organization’s mission statement, identity, and business strategy.
He asked everyone to describe who they are, but by using six words or less. Then once everyone crafted their six word self-describing phrase, trim it down to three. Once we pared it down he asked, what does that phrase mean to you.
The other night I was staring at the ceiling trying to sleep as my brain was going warp speed. I was thinking, amongst many other things, about how many things went wrong this year or didn’t go my way. But why focus on the uncontrollable?
It’s a waste of time and energy. That time and effort can be refocused on action and ideas. So I started to think of what I could focus on and change that are within my control, and I thought of the three word exercise.
The funny thing, over a year ago when I tried to do this myself during the event, I had nothing. I couldn’t put something together that was me or meaningful, but within seconds of thinking about this exercise in bed not sleeping I had my three words and what it meant to me.
My three words:
Better Than Now
What does this mean to me?
Better father
Better husband
Better patience and understanding
Better at Jiu-Jitsu, gi and nogi
Better triathlete- improve my swimming, biking, and running
Better strength
Better at communicating
Better listener
Better leader
Better motivator
Better at being present in the moment
Overall, just be better.
Seems overwhelming, but this is a process. An ultramarathon not a sprint. Life and meaningful personal growth are a process requiring dedicated focus and commitment. This means putting all one’s energy into this process all day every day.
The goal for the end of the day is to have no energy left, absolutely spent, cooked, all used up in achieving my three words. All energy directed to this mission so when my head hits the pillow at night I pass out.
When you’re tired and aren’t motivated, are you going to put the effort into your goal? At that moment, you will see if you actually WANT it or if the goals are just wishful thinking.
This is not a New Year’s resolution. This isn’t a try it for a month and quit. This isn’t 7 minute abs. This your motto 24/7 for the next 365 days. It’ll be hard, it’ll be tiring, it’ll be, well you name it. However, it will lead to change and a better version of you.
Ready?
Now it’s your turn. What are your three words? What do they mean to you?
