Pictured: Cerulean sky over suburban neighborhood back yards on the horizon with a smaller spruce in shadows to the left of the foreground and a stand of deciduous trees painted in hoarfrost to the right.
Another view of yesterday’s hoarfrost and intense cerulean sky.

One of the things suggested in the creativity and productivity articles I’ve been reading is to create a word for the year and then monthly themes that are guided by the overarching word of the year.

The idea behind this is to provide parameters instead of leaving the horizon wide open. Sometimes too many choices can lead to analysis paralysis and inaction, but constraints can free the mind from the choice of where to begin and let it work on novel solutions within the field defined.

I think I’ve mentioned that my word for the year is “creativity.” With that in the back of my mind, I picked the following themes for each month of the year.

  1. January – Word of the year (Creativity)
  2. February – Self-Care
  3. March – Roam
  4. April – Money
  5. May – Plant
  6. June – Adventure
  7. July – Freedom
  8. August – Love
  9. September – Learn
  10. October – Remembrance
  11. November – Gratitude
  12. December – Plan

I had these themes in mind when I picked my books out yesterday, in addition to the other constraints I put on myself (Books I already own, either on Kindle or in hard copy, or books I can get through my Kindle Unlimited subscription.)