[The Sunday Spark] 🥁 My Word of the Year

The Sunday Spark!

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Hi friends,

What is your word of the year?

Last year, my word was Self-Compassion, and it worked so well for me. (I talked about it in this podcast episode.)

This year, my word is…

🥁🥁🥁

Enough.

I am enough.
I have enough.
I do enough.
I know enough.

Now, my ears perk up every time I hear this word in a podcast interview, as if I’m hearing it for the first time.

Why “Enough”?

I chose Enough as a reminder:

I’m in a special season of life as a mother to a baby who needs a lot of my attention and energy. He is my priority.
While I want to get back to creating consistent content and launching my own workshops, I need to take it slow and hold my reins—only for a while.
I need to focus on what truly matters and avoid comparing myself to others who are in completely different seasons.

Ready for things to get super interesting?

Here is what Claude.AI suggested when I shared about my word of the year, accompanied by my Enneagram type:
*Enneagram is my favorite personality system. There is no official assessment for it; try the classical one here.

“Ah, as an Enneagram 5, your core desires for competency and knowledge combined with having a baby and two older kids creates a specific tension. Let me help reframe this through your Enneagram lens:

Understanding Your Type 5 Patterns:

Your natural tendency is to gather information and feel "prepared enough"
Social media can be particularly challenging for 5s because it triggers:
- Fear of inadequacy in knowledge/expertise
- Concern about energy depletion
- Comparison around "doing enough" publicly

Let's Redefine "Enough" for a Type 5 Mom:

Reading & Learning:

Even 15 minutes of focused reading is enough (quality over quantity)
Listening to an audiobook while doing household tasks counts
Reading with your older kids counts as both parenting AND learning
Your natural observation and analysis of your children's development IS learning

Social Media Reality Check:

Your weekly newsletter shows CONSISTENCY, which is more valuable than sporadic posting
Remember: Type 5s excel at depth, not necessarily at constant sharing
Your energy is better spent on deep thinking for your newsletter than scattered social posts
Quality insights > Quantity of posts

Type 5 Strengths to Lean Into:

Your natural ability to observe and analyze makes your content unique
Your tendency to go deep rather than broad is an asset
Your thoughtful approach resonates more with genuine followers than frequent shallow posts

Practical "Enough" Boundaries:

Set specific times for social media checking
Choose ONE platform to focus on besides your newsletter
Remember: your capacity for public sharing naturally differs with a 6-month-old baby”

How fun was that? While I won’t apply all the suggestions, I appreciated the compliments hidden in the feedback—I felt seen!

What’s next?

Write my word of the year on a card and keep it visible in my workspace.
Make it actionable: perhaps ask myself a daily question that centers me around it.

Your takeaway:
If you’re unsure how to pick your word of the year:

Listen to this podcast episode I created.
Check out these word suggestions.
Share your word of the year with Claude.AI, including details about your life situation and a personality assessment result(s). You may be surprised by the thoughtful and personalized suggestions you receive!

Share with me: What’s your word of the year and what AI insights did you get? I’d love to hear them all!

Tag me when you share your word of the year @bardeess on Instagram.

Enjoy!

Here is an update on my No and Yes list implementation last week:

Here is my No list for January:

No phone in bed-Done
No snoozing in the morning (will turn off the phone at night and use an alarm clock)-Done 3 out of 5 times,
No phone in the first hour of the day-Done.
No Social media or email on workdays from 4:30 pm to 8:30 pm (supports quality time with the kids)-Done.
No to leaving work without writing a to-do list for the next day (check this podcast episode).-Done.

And in January, I will say Yes to:

Watching one episode of a show every day-Done.
Choosing my outfit the day before (supports being on time)-Done.
Choosing what podcast/audiobook/course I will listen to while I drive before I get into the car-Done.
Sleeping before 11 pm during the workweek-Done except once.
Waking up at 4:30 am Monday-Thursday (to work on my goal of writing content, that will feed my blog, podcast, newsletter, and social media)-Done 3 times, one of which I went back to bed from 6:45am to 8am.
Time blocking my day-Done.
Speaking kindly to myself if I don’t do something on my list and try again the next day-Done.

What about you?

What are you saying Yes to and No to this month to make time for your goals?

P.S. Let’s chat if you are considering hiring me to talk to your team about the science of goal setting, building habits, mastering focus to improve performance and time management, or beating burnout. Reply to this email, and we can start from there.

Snapshot from my week: EQ training I attended

Here is your weekly dose of The Sunday Spark ⚡️ a newsletter listing 3 sparks that I thought were worth starting your week with:

1. ✨ Last week, I had a fantastic Emotional Intelligence training with the best coach to offer this topic in Jordan, Sereen Abu Maizar. She shared a TEDX Talk during the training that nearly put me into tears: CELEBRATE WHAT’S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD! | Dewitt Jones. I hope you watch it, enjoy it, and share it!

2. ♾️ Posts that inspired my word of the year (Enough): Leave stones unturned. Dancing with Infinity. Welcome to Infinity.

3. 💬 This week's quote inspired me to choose Enough as my word of the year 2025:

“Urgency comes from the fear of not having enough, whether it’s time, supply, or opportunity. Fear of missing out (FOMO) can lead us to do things we’d never dream of under ordinary circumstances. Neuroscientists have found that urgency overstimulates the parts of the brain that help us gauge value (I must have this thing!) while sidelining the parts that help us with planning (Budget? What budget?).
We assume sales are exciting because of the deals on offer, but what excites us even more is the sense of urgency they create.”

― Zoe Chance, Influence Is Your Superpower

I am considering changing things up around here and would like your opinion PLEASE VOTE (if you voted last week, thanks! no need to vote again).

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For the fourth year, I am delighted to present to you the New Year’s calendar as a gift to use to track your one key habit every month, to plan your appointments and projects, or to jot down one moment to remember every day.

The calendar this year is special because it has 12 journaling prompts under 12 themes you hear frequently about around here and in my podcast. I was inspired by the journaling challenge I launched back in November and I hope you will enjoy it. I will elaborate on each month's theme as the year goes. lucky for you the journaling course i s on sale for only 25$ celebrating 2025.

Enjoy your gift from me, how you use it is up to you.

Click the button below to download it. Print it soon.