Latest / The Rooted Family / Ep 3 | Word of the Year: How to Choose One and Actually Live It Out
Transcript
- Christian Cornish: Hello everyone, welcome back to the Rooted Family Podcast. Hey everyone. We are so glad you're here. We're gonna be talking about the word of the year. This is a practice that we have lived out for 10 years now and today we're gonna be talking about how to live it out throughout the whole year. Yeah, today isn't really about how to pick your word, although we'll give you some tips on that, but today is really about helping you So I chose my word of the year because I really felt it was going to make me stronger as a husband, as a father, and as, you know, a loyal employee, And it just really became clear to me that that was the way the Lord wanted me to grow in this upcoming year. Yeah. So how did your word stretch you? How did discipline stretch you? How did you see it play out this last year? Well, you left make it concrete in your life for the entire year. Because this is an interesting fact. 87 % of people set New Year's resolutions. Wow, I didn't know it was that high. Yeah, kind of crazy. I'd be curious the stat on how many people live out their resolutions. Oh, it's less than 10%. Like 1 %? It's silly. And I think, like us, people have seen that and have started to make As we talked about really early in the year immediately I have ⁓ kids to take care of ⁓ drop offs, ⁓ different places, homeschoolers ⁓ I still had responsibilities here at home. And on top of that, I wanted to stay connected to you. And immediately it became pretty that this was to be a long. this transition to picking a word of the year. It's a trend that I've seen increasing now for several years. ⁓ But have you ever picked a word, posted it, felt excited, and then completely forgotten about it by March? Or what if the problem isn't choosing a word, but it's just never really building a system to live it out? Yeah, really, season. It wasn't going to like short spurred and I'd see you again soon and we could go back to somewhat of normal life. And so I really forced me to look at my life and now as the single person to take care of things at home and say, okay, what do I need in this season to be a healthy, ⁓ stable, ⁓ caring Again, we're here to just really focus in on does one ⁓ this out throughout the year? How are you gonna come to the end of this year and really feel that you became the word that you chose for yourself? Yeah, because I bet a lot of people who are listening to this today have chosen a word of the year. Because like you said, a lot of people are talking about this as kind of a new practice. Yeah, or have attended our trainings, because I know many people in our community have taken in it. ⁓ parent and single dad life how am I going to get through this time? And so I did really disciplined quickly and I actually, ⁓ did a book. a discipline book and it really got me thinking about what was most important things and then updating my schedule as best as I possibly could to follow ⁓ used our guide and chosen their own words. Totally. Yeah, so we were really hoping that today you feel equipped to not forget about your word this year and just ⁓ creative new ideas on how to make this very practical. So we jump into the podcast, I just wanted to encourage you to ⁓ subscribe hit that follow button that discipline I wanted to have. So it was really taking everything I wanted and putting it in alignment. But that word really helped me to with it throughout the year. Because were days I was tired and I wanted to skip some step in the morning routine. Or there were days that, you know, things were just hard and it would be like, man, maybe I should just quit early or something to, you know, up on something. ahead and shoot us some comments afterwards if you're listening on Spotify. We love hearing from our listeners ⁓ we would be so grateful if you would leave us a five star rating and even take that extra step and leave us a review. ⁓ It does help our podcast. It helps us to grow, to reach new families that really need what this is about and I felt that discipline, ⁓ just had these moments where I'm like, no, I am a disciplined person and ⁓ know the value by having stuck through this ⁓ after day, week after week, month after month in a disciplined manner made it easier. The more time went on to continue to stay within that because I knew getting away from my discipline would make me spiral. Help us just do more of what we love to do, which is do this podcast. Yes it is, and we love teaching on the word of the year. This practice has been such an amazing one for us, and let's talk about the word of the year a little bit. Let's define it as a practice. Word of the year is the single word that becomes your guide, or a filter, or a lens, and it's about who you're becoming. This is not about achievement. Goals are about achieving. and I didn't want that to happen. So it became easier over time. I think you said something that was really key. You had said you reminded yourself when it was hard, I am a disciplined person. And I think that is such beautiful example of how Word of the Year is so impactful because it really becomes a part of our identity when we take it seriously. ⁓ don't just pick a word in January and then forget it ⁓ next month. what are you gonna do, they might call you to some level of character change, but they in themselves are not about your character, right? So what we love about the Word of the Year is that unlike a goal, this is about who you are. This is about who the Lord wants to shape you to be and an opportunity really take that seriously. And you might have some tangible goals, you might have some things you get to do along the way, but again, this is about who, you really decided like this is who you wanted to be and you reminded yourself like no I am this person I am going to become more of this person and I think about too like if I was in your shoes this last year home with the six kids there probably would have been some rhythms I would have wanted to throw out the window like some of our family rhythms because it takes discipline to stick with rhythms when you don't feel like doing them. God is making you to be, who is he forming you to be? And not about any performance that we have. Yeah, I like that. It's not performance, it's really about your formation. Yes, and no one accidentally achieves their God-given potential. Totally. And I think that's really important because your God-given potential is not what you do, it's not about what you achieve because your potential is about who you are and that's gonna be the real impact. And one of those is the family breakfast rhythm that our family has where we do prayer and devotion together. It could have been so easy for you to say, know what, my wife's not here. You know, I just have to try to get these kids out the door to school and myself to work. And you could have just thrown that rhythm out the window. But I feel like you really leaned into discipline and you stuck with something that probably wasn't easy every day. of your life at the end of the day. That's so powerful. No one accidentally achieves their God given potential and no one accidentally becomes a rooted family. Yeah. And I think that we want to think that these things are going to happen as we get older. But that is why we are doing this podcast because we're really about people to be intentional about their growth. Yes. Yes. And this an opportunity to say, who am I? because you knew how important family devotion and prayer was to our family. So I just commend you so much for how, I mean, I already saw you as a disciplined person and a consistent steady person, but I commend you for how you chose the higher ground in a very difficult year to become even more because you knew how much that person, a disciplined father, was becoming. I think that's so amazing because in our life, like work anything else, it's often on the outside, not going to be measured this way. So this is deeply, deeply personal. Yeah, I ⁓ am to our 2026 word of the year However, we are going to save it till the end. So ⁓ just keep on listening and you'll get to hear what picked this year almost necessary to be a rock and to carry us through a year of hardship for us. So yeah, well, thank you. It was all worth it. If you're listening this, you might be thinking about the concept of atomic habits. Yeah, love your famous book. Yep. ⁓ And why don't we just share ⁓ this word the year practice has become so important to Because it really has become a part of who we are. Yeah, we've been doing this for 10 years now. ⁓ do you to go over some of the words that we have ⁓ used in the Because I think that's ⁓ a great way show this concept if it is new to somebody. Yeah, and it's kind fun to hear what other people choose for words too. I do too. It's true. He talks about the key to forming good habits is changing your identity around how you perceive yourself. And so, yeah, I would say that's what happened. It wasn't like this intentional thing. It wasn't honoring atomic habits at the time. Right. But the idea of is a true statement and it is connected. And so that's a concept you've heard of. It's true. The word of the year, because we've said it multiple times now. gets my mind going a little bit on like, ooh, maybe that could be my word. here's what we've chosen in years past. So in 2016 is when we first started the Word of the Year. at this point, chose words together, ⁓ I actually appreciated for those few years. Yeah, think that's what we needed at that time was we, well, if you go back and listen to our story episode one, there was a season where we needed to rebuild. ⁓ It's about who you're becoming. it is an identity shaping formation practice. Yeah. And wouldn't you say that our marriage and our togetherness. We didn't really cover in that episode, but this was one intentional practice we had together to grow and deepen our relationship. Yeah, to really ⁓ unify. Because with having a shared of year, we had a shared vision for the year. And it was so cool how God taught us different things. Even though we had the same word, we both felt like God spoke to us personally about that word. in 2016, we had intentional. was extraordinary. That was the year ⁓ earned the Pink Cadillac. was it? Yeah, you're right. That was extraordinary. It was extraordinary. And we were not on track to earning the Pink Cadillac. You know, we were brand new in leadership in Mary Kay. And so, ⁓ you I became number one for my class and leaders that year. ⁓ And we went on just like a few months later. to finishing that car, which it blew our minds. Absolutely. Yeah, so that was a cool year. And you know what I think is cool, just to pause here, we started practicing the Sabbath right before that ⁓ that's right, ⁓ yes. And what's kind of cool about our story is that ⁓ even though we still building very big, you you were building your career, I was building this very large direct sales business, we were resting very regularly. You had a rhythm of rest built in there. Yeah. Just as a cool realization. And that was extraordinary at the time. It really was. Making our life be better, I guess. Yeah. And the way that we wanted it to be. It was a both and for us. It wasn't an either or, give up business and then have rest or, you know, keep business and ditch rest. It was extraordinary to have both. Yeah. So that was 2017. We live in such an instant gratification world where we want quick fixes. want, you know, our lives to be instantly resolved when we're facing trials. And we will find ourselves disappointed by doing practices and by doing rhythms. 2018, we had freedom. 2019, now this is the year that you and I both decided to choose our own words and we've done that ever since. And I am really, grateful for that because I feel like you and I both kind of took our own journey of like, what was the right word for us? in 2019, I chose consistency, you had devotion. And 2020, I had boundaries, you had focus. because they don't usually offer quick fixes. rhythms take months, if not years to build and develop. ⁓ the ⁓ of choosing a word of the year, which that's really what it is, it's a rhythm, a yearly rhythm. It takes a whole year to really experience the fullness and the depth of the word. Yeah, there's usually healing along the way. like growth is not. 2021, I had shine and then Christian had listening. And then just jumping ahead to 2024, I had pause, you had strength. And then this last year, which we're gonna share some of our takeaways from this last year, word of the year, I had the word content and then Christian had the word discipline. Yeah, I think when I look over these words, I remember when we said, hey, let's each choose our own. linear, you feel like you're going backwards and you feel like then you take three steps forward and then you fall four steps back and then you take three steps forward again and it's this constant that you're on. And so you're right. think it takes through most of the year, then you turn around and you can clearly see there's where I was and now here I am. in moments or especially early on, haven't And it's funny because some of these, we'd probably look at the other person and say, well, I'm glad you're growing in that. I'm actually already really excellent at that. Like, I'm going to look back and say like a 2019, like consistency is a good example. That was your word. I am pretty consistent. You're also very humble. Well, yeah, absolutely. probably taken that many steps in reality. And that's okay, that's ⁓ a thousand percent normal and probably really how it should be. Totally. why don't we just do a quick overview because I'm sure there's people listening like, okay, this is great, I'm sold, I wanna do Word of the Year or I have a Word of the Year, ⁓ but the heck do you keep it in the forefront of your mind ⁓ all long? So we're gonna give you five ways. But you are a very consistent person. You didn't need that word. I didn't need it. But I needed that you desperately needed. the following year I had the word focus and I would say you are so in everything you do because you are very, very focused and I am ⁓ well, you haven't picked up on this story yet, I am not always the most focused. ⁓ So would not have made sense for you to spend your time learning that. So to keep it in front of you. And you don't have a word of the year, we're not gonna get into the nitty gritty today of how to choose it. We've actually created a full guide for you, ⁓ and it's called the Word of the Guide. ⁓ created it years ago, but we update every year. ⁓ I'll put the link in the episode ⁓ So you just have to... ⁓ if don't have a word of the year, we're not gonna get into the nitty gritty today of how to choose it. We've actually created a full guide for you, ⁓ and it's called the Word of the Year ⁓ created it years ago, but we update it year. ⁓ And so we have a hot off the copy waiting just for you. I'll put the link in the episode description. ⁓ So you just have to... ⁓ I think that that's just kind of funny, but it is what we needed together to be stronger. ⁓ it actually made sense that we split at that time because it was it wasn't like I went on my own journey and you went on your own journey. We were supporting each other ⁓ be stronger together. Ultimately. ⁓ go into that link and we'll send you that word of the year guide. if you're not like a wordsmith and words don't come naturally to you, you can see a whole giant list there. And go into that link and we'll send you that word of the year guide. it gives you a whole list of word ideas. So if you're not like a wordsmith and words don't come naturally to you, you can see a whole giant list there. And That's good. You know, and the word of the year really became our filter for the year. We really took it serious. Each time we chose a word, we really felt like God had given us a word. We prayed about it before we chose it. It then became kind of like choosing your family roots. Yeah. Yes. It becomes that laser focus, that filter of what you base your decisions on, what you say yes to, what you say no to, what you are committing to on your calendar. we go through our five steps to choosing your word of the year. So just get yourself that guide and you can very easily choose a word of the year still. It's still the beginning of the year. You're not late, you're not behind, and you have the rest of the year, 10 more months or so to live this out. we go through our five steps to choosing your word of the year. So just get yourself that guide and you can very easily choose a word of the year still. It's still the beginning of the year. You're not late, you're not behind, and you have the rest of the year, 10 more months or so to live this out. And I really have appreciated how it does give us that focus. Yeah, it's really been an incredible filter. It even changes what we've consumed in terms of what we listen to, ⁓ that we read, making changes because it was like, whoa, this is not going to be aligned this year with who I know the Lord me to become. So let's talk about the five ways that you can actually live out your word. this year. Absolutely. The first one is to make it impossible to forget. Keep it absolutely somehow somewhere in front of you. What are some ways that you've done this or you've seen people do this? Yeah, there's so many creative ways you can do this. one of my favorite ways is to write it somewhere that I see it all the time. So I always put it like right on the front of my planner, ⁓ only got so much time to consume things. What I gonna give those precious moments to? Yeah, that's good. I'm surprised you've never chosen the word sports. And I also really love to write it on any calendars that we have in the home, anywhere that where I'm looking constantly or consistently, then I can remind myself of it. Yeah. I've done a lock screen. Yes. On your phone. It's very easy to make like a quick custom lock screen image and save it. So we look at our phones a lot, right? The other thing I do is I usually, get a book. Well, So I just figured, you know, if you chose the word sports, would give you permission to to change my word for 2026. Yeah. Baseball season's coming. Probably. Let's just say I will not let you choose the word sports. Oh, OK. OK. Well, I kind of figured that. So it does. So it does change what we. I don't put that book away. The book actually that I got last year is still sitting right there with my Bible and my journal and all that stuff that I use every day because it constantly is there and it reminds me of my word and ⁓ how can I live it out That's good. Yeah, ⁓ think the key is just keeping it in front of all the time. Put it on your fridge, take a dry erase marker, put it on your mirror. listen to what we're consuming, what opportunities are responding to, and it really just prepares us for what God has for us for the year. Absolutely does. And I think this is a great time for us to take a moment to really dive into how this worked for us last year. It was a big year for us and it was so funny how we had chosen our words and at the time we were not really aware of You could even put a sticky note on your steering wheel or on your rear view mirror in your car. But essentially just write it down and put it as many places as you can. Absolutely. The second step is to become a student of your word and by studying it and putting an emphasis on it, it makes it harder to forget. So I read a book last year at the very beginning of the year. That's a very common practice I have. think you have as well taken a book and specific to your word. I mean, you're never aware of what the year is going to bring in front of you. for me, at least it couldn't have been more perfect ⁓ sit in the word discipline because as a part of our story, like I never would have survived this year ⁓ and emotionally if I ⁓ worked on my discipline. And just what like, that's the word that the Lord gave me early. And I no clue the ride. I've already read audiobook this year and put some things to pen and paper. By starting it makes me to keep going. Yeah. And that has been a really, really great practice. You know, ⁓ love what you, I think you have said this before, I master the word and I let it be my master. And it's, ⁓ it's just such good to keep moving, keep growing. that I was gonna go on. had no clue the ride you were gonna go on, ⁓ what amazing year for us to stop and say, hey, how are we gonna be disciplined and what does contentment look like? Yeah, so just to clarify our words for 2025, you chose word discipline ⁓ and I the word content or contentment. Yeah, ⁓ I'm ⁓ to hear why did you... ⁓ and doing something intentional, because you can't just pick a word and then forget it and get to the end of the word and be like, year, and be like, yeah, cool, I became that word. Like, that just doesn't happen. No. It never, never happens. Well, and I think another practice that you and I like to do is we start to think of people in our life that are doing that word really well. And you and I are huge fans of going to other people for mentorship, asking questions. And so I know you and I both have gone to people. choose contentment in the end? Like what led to it? Because we have this process that we go through and that wasn't the only word you were pondering, but what led you to pick that one? You know, it's interesting because we had moved to Pagosa Springs, our small mountain town here in Colorado, in 2024. And so the end of 2024 is when we were praying about, you know, these words. And I just remember thinking or we've really studied how people live out this word really well. reading books is another big one. Like you said, we'll just go on Amazon and search the word of a title of the book. Like ⁓ you typed in discipline books. ⁓ And we'll intentionally purchase some books the beginning of the year to help our study. And then for me, I love reflection. I'm a huge journal. Actually we're both journalers. ⁓ that we felt very discontent at the time. You we were in a new community, new job, and new school, and everything just felt so new and unsettled. you and I are such dreamers that we're always dreaming about like what's next and ⁓ to imagine what God has for us. And was praying so desperately in that season that the Lord would just give us a spirit of contentment. ⁓ And so I really have made it a practice that every month I just record some notes in my journal on what God is teaching me my word of the year. And so by the end of the year, I have quite a bit of notes ⁓ I'm learning and growing. And we filter our decisions through it. So this is number three. Number three is filter your decisions through your word of the year. Yeah. And so like I'll give an example of last year, just decision making wise. here in Pagosa Springs. Like, of course it's so beautiful here. So like, who wouldn't wanna live here in this gorgeous mountain town? But for us, we had moved from another gorgeous mountain town in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. So being here in this beautiful area was cool, but I really wanted to have ⁓ for this town, for the people here. ⁓ I didn't wanna feel like... I had my discipline in place and I love together with friends. I love doing certain like coffees and all that stuff. But if I was going to be disciplined, I did have to say no ⁓ to that I didn't want to say no to. But it would have taken me out of my discipline and then ⁓ led more stress, ⁓ more... this was this two year stint we're gonna try and then leave. Like I really wanted to trust that the Lord moved us here with purpose and that he wanted us to our roots down. ⁓ ⁓ I think that that was my hope in choosing the word contentment was like, all right Lord, I praying for contentment. I ⁓ desperately to be content with where you have us, but it's so crazy because the Lord showed me something ⁓ even I don't want say chaos, but just more having to work later or figure things out. And it would have been, it felt chaotic. And so my discipline really helped me to say no to certain opportunities that were good, but were not the best. Do you have any examples that you can think of a word you filtered a decision through a word that you've had in the past? Well, when I think about the year that we had, than I could have imagined with the word contentment because of the year that we went on. Yeah, so we picked these words at the end of 24 going into 25. And just to catch you up on the story of why this is so impactful is we knew that our seventh child who was about to be born early in the year had some major medical complications and was going to require like extraordinary, for example, I like God almost opened my eyes to ways that were extraordinary, things that maybe put out of my comfort zone, saying yes some big, bold, brave things. ⁓ And so think that it almost gives you the eyes to see. I love that. ⁓ Eyes to see, good. Yeah. multiple surgeries in her first year of life. And all of that, like, I think we thought, ⁓ we'll go to this children's hospital. She'll get some surgeries We weren't sure fully at the time. We'll go home for a while. We'll go back for the other surgeries later in the year when she's bigger, because that's what they told us. Okay, cool. That'll get taken care of. And, you know, we'll work through what that looks like. And So number four, another idea is to reflect monthly, and I think I already mentioned this, so it's not just choosing your word in January and then forgetting about it, but it's like how can you keep this in your mind all year long and continuously asking God to show you more? And so we love to take time to reflect, like you and I reflect a lot on Sabbath, What actually happened was drastically different. She did have surgery right away and we were separated for seven months because ⁓ as a family, because you were with her at the Children's Hospital the whole time and she had additional complications and she stayed in the NICU. And so we weren't together. throughout most of 2025. Well, and let's clarify too, because that's not always the case. Like if you live in a big town or a big city, you might have the Children's Hospital right there. But we live about six hours away from our closest Children's Hospital that we can go to. And so that when Christian says that we were separated, it's because Christian had to stay here in Pagosa Springs with our other six kids. And I then stayed at the Children's Hospital with Darla, our baby. Saturday mornings by the fire, we'll ask each other pretty frequently, hey, what are you learning about your word of the year? ⁓ And I love conversations. Like I feel like when we just sit down and have a conversation about our word of the year and how it's going, they're always very rich and we really learn ⁓ from each other. And would say that another big thing is you can go back into your word of the year guide from the last year. So our guide has reflection questions in there. so that's why we really want to encourage you to download that guide because ⁓ can fill it out this year as you're picking your word of the year and why you're picking it. And then at the end of this year, when you're getting ready to pick next year's word, ⁓ can go back and see what you wrote down and really take time to reflect on what you learned. that entire duration she was there and I actually had to move a month before she was born Yeah, it's so true because won't drift into transformation. It's not possible. And reflection allows you to take that intentional moment to say, am I moving the right way? And if I am not, how am I going to course correct? And if you don't have a moment of reflection, you can't make that happen. That's such a powerful statement. You don't drift into transformation. Yeah, you can't So tell us a bit about how it actually played out for you in 2025 in comparison. Yeah, I definitely feel like the Lord answered my prayer and gave me a spirit of contentment. It's funny because every time I'd make the drive from the Children's Hospital, And our fifth step is stay loyal when it gets. stay loyal when it gets. Boring. Cuz it will. Yeah. the truth. A thousand percent will. Like what's more boring than discipline? You know how many times I've heard ⁓ some of our students say, I changed words in June. I heard that from so many people. I just want to take them by the shoulders and shake them a little bit and be like, ⁓ keep going. It gets much better. You just have to push through the boring. Boring. Cuz it will. Yeah. the truth. A thousand percent will. Like what's more boring than discipline? You know how many times I've heard ⁓ some of our students say, I changed words in June. Like have literally heard that from so many people. I just to like take them by the shoulders and shake them a little bit and be like, ⁓ keep going. gets so much better. You just have to push through the boring. where Darla was to back home to visit the other kids, just felt this immediate relief pulling into Pagosa of Springs. It was like a breath of fresh air. And started to realize the contrast of being in the big city and being here in this oasis. So there was that piece where I felt like the Lord is building a love in me for where we are. ⁓ But what he really taught me, was the big lesson I took away last year. And by September, by October, you are gonna experience so much fruit if you stick with it. And by September, by October, you are gonna experience so much fruit if you stick with it. Yeah, it's like driving across Nebraska. You go from Colorado to the boring, long, six to seven hour drive through Nebraska. was how to have true contentment, ⁓ and peace amidst hardship suffering. I maybe had a concept that before this year, but watching your little baby suffer, know, through, like you said, surgeries. I mean, there was a point even in her NICU stay that we didn't know if she would make it. and then you come into the promised land of Iowa. ⁓ my goodness. I think it's really the opposite here. Okay, you're gonna make your way through Iowa, Nebraska, and then you're like, Colorado. that takes time. It's a day's drive. Yeah. And it's boring. Yeah. But there's something amazing on the other side. Whether you're going to Colorado or Iowa, that's fine. Can you tell where Christian is from? ⁓ She declined very fast. And then going into, you know, open heart surgery and all these big moments that we were desperately praying that the Lord would let us keep her. Lord taught me what it was like to be content in my relationship with that no matter what happened, He was still good and faithful God and that He had our best interests at heart. you have to go through it to get there. And if you circumvent that, like by flying, it's not great. Nothing beats great car ride. Yeah, I think our biggest tip with Word of the Year is truly just to stick with it because really, ⁓ we cannot this enough, you really do experience the fruit of your word at the end of the year ⁓ if you it intentional. Absolutely. ⁓ So those the five steps that we teach. And then also I watched so many other parents in the NICU in anxiety ⁓ entire stays where they just were on edge the whole time. And it's like the joy was totally taken out of their lives during that season. ⁓ the Lord showed me how to have this underlying current of joy in a situation where you wouldn't think ⁓ could even have joy. our students as to how they can move through the word of the year and stick with it. They're not really steps because they don't have to do them in that order. They're more just like five key ways to not lose sight of your word of the year. To really live out your word of the year. You can do them in any order you want. Yes. And so let's share our 2026. Right. Drum roll. That's amazing. Yeah. was a big year. It was a big year. Yeah. I'm really grateful. I think we learn things and suffering in hard times that we just can't learn when things are going ⁓ super well. you describe yourself now as content? Would you you that? ⁓ Yeah, I would say By 2026, Word of the Year, it's actually two. This is the first year I'm choosing two words, which I don't probably recommend always, but... But you put them together intentionally. They're not... It's like a phrase. They're not separate. Yeah, it's like a phrase. They're not separate concepts. So this just goes to show you have freedom to do what you want for your Word of the Year. So I chose simple and steady. towards the end of last year, I felt like that is who I became. And ⁓ I'm so because I do feel like now we have seven kids at home. Thankfully Darla is thriving and she's home now and ⁓ we're hopefully through the of her big surgeries. ⁓ And I love that can in the chaos of our home life of seven young children and still feel content. ⁓ still content not knowing the of Darla. as my 2026 word or phrase of the year. And what about you? What did you choose? I chose vision for my word of the year. So obviously you haven't seen it to come to fruition, but what led you to choose that word? Simple and steady. Yeah, I really wanted to prioritize. I feel content knowing that we're here in Pagosa Springs, I feel content and I'm grateful for that. Yeah. I've seen a significant growth in your contentment. I would say I see it in ⁓ multiple ways, but just to give one example is simplifying our home because we moved to Colorado like a year and a half, almost two years ago. We still have boxes that we haven't unpacked the big move across the country. And so ⁓ only physically did I want to simplify, ⁓ I wanted to do simple in our ⁓ home with our rhythms. But then, you you and I have so many goals and dreams. ⁓ I want to make sure that we're not over complicating things. You work very, hard. You have big, big dreams. You will go chase anything and everything. But I've seen you become not changing any of those things, but at the same time being content with the moment that is in front of you. ⁓ in the midst of the moment. And usually you would share like the next three to four things on your mind. ⁓ I couldn't keep up. ⁓ And then the steady piece of it is I think just not just consistency, but I think just showing up in my life when I'm present with my kids, when I'm present in my business, when I am doing the work God is calling me to do, do it in a way that is steady, really just showing up loyally. Yeah, I would describe it also in the way you shared with me that you are. now ⁓ like you started Legacy Roots Studio as a art studio and you very content right now in the moment working and playing and finding joy that space. ⁓ And I see you just being content in what you have. You haven't given up dreaming by any means, but you're much more. aiming to simplify and you're doing so in a slower and steady That's good. And I think that's why you put those two together. I made sense to them together. Yeah. Yeah. So we've been filtering decisions that we've already made this year on is simplifying our life or going to complicate it and will it allow us to maintain a steadiness? ⁓ ⁓ I like for this podcast, for I'm here, I'm present in this moment and what current work I'm focused on. Yeah. And it's been really cool for me to see because I, you know, I've always known you to be a big dreamer. And sometimes I'm like, whoa, yes, that's a great one. Can I hold on? I'm still thinking about the one we're trying to do right now. Oh, true. I'm like trying to like just catch you up to speed. I'm like, come on, let's go. Yeah. Yeah, that's an interesting comment, because I think that is a tough balance for a visionary. we've been dreaming about this for years. ⁓ However, didn't activate on it until we knew we could show up in a steady way and always be consistent for our audience. ⁓ And I think that's a good example is like, I didn't want to put anything on our plate this year that I couldn't keep my for it. Yeah. I end to to that because we talked about performance and goals and stuff. The podcast. person, you know, to like, still carry the dreams in your heart, but then still be present to life as it happens. And maybe it's Darla, maybe she's slowed me down even more because Darla has so many medical cares every day. ⁓ maybe that's it is that been able to really be more present in my daily life and be happy with where God has me and not always desiring more. Yeah. at coming out weekly and doing this is a, is an outflow of your word of the year and how we're doing it. So you could, we could have said, ⁓ our goal is to do a podcast, but we, wasn't just about that goal. was how are we going to do this in a way that is simple and steady? Yeah, that's good. What about you? What made you choose your word of the year? from ⁓ year and all of the challenges, it was hard not to just Yeah. And many people say that after like two kids, you took you to seven. Yeah. So I really needed to be worked on. So let's talk about your word you had, a whole nother gamut of challenges this last year because you were the one that stayed back in Pagosa Springs with our other six kids and the Lord gave you the word discipline. So could you tell us how did you feel like I was getting by and getting through each week as it came and living in the short term rather than seeing the long term. So I really feel like the Lord brought us here to where we are today for a reason. And I don't see that yet. I don't know it yet, but I felt like I needed the vision to know where to go from here. decide to choose that word? Yeah, I chose that word because I can say I am consistent, but I was kind of loosey goosey, if that makes sense. So it's like, sure, I do the same relative things every day or every week or monthly, whatever it is. ⁓ But I would be very goosey. Like maybe it was on my wake up time or And what was the Lord, I really wanted to ask the Lord, like, what is the vision we have? What is the vision you want to give for our life? And what does it look like years down the road? And how do we start moving toward that? Yeah. Rather than living like day to day, week to week. That's good. And I felt like that vision extends to how we manage our financial life, how we manage our personal life, how we manage our work and our business and all of these things. And so I felt like the Lord just could give. when I got to the gym or when certain things would get done. They might get done on that day, but I wasn't like strictly on doing them. And so I felt like though I was distracted, I would waste time. I felt like, man, I want my quiet time to be more ⁓ focused or my work be more focused or whatever. And it was like, OK, gets done, but it's just in this loosey goosey way. ⁓ so much vision, am, is probably a weak area ⁓ me, you have already described yourself as a visionary and everybody who meets you knows that. And I would not be described that way. And I'm not bad about that. ⁓ ⁓ I that since I've lacked vision, And I go through these seasons where I'm like, ⁓ I'm not working out, so I'd like to work out more. But didn't really have the underlining discipline to be consistent in that all the time at the same time. So like some weeks, for example, you'd work out twice. And then the next week you're like, all right, I'm going to work out four or five times to catch up. ⁓ wasn't like this very ⁓ pattern. I even remember at some times you would. that it hinders me. And so I don't want that to hold me back. So I'm not trying to become a vision guru at all. I am trying to in a disciplined way, but having that discipline now point toward a vision. And what does that mean? And how do you do that? And I see you being someone who ⁓ you always wanna as a leader too. ⁓ And I think are seeing that in order for you to get to the next want to be getting ready at a certain time in the morning. ⁓ some days you'd hit that right on the dot. And then some days you were like 15, 20, 30 minutes later ⁓ whatever the case. Yeah, that's a great way to put it. So I really like though it was starting to hinder me ⁓ and walk with the Lord because I felt like I wasn't having those quality ⁓ moments I knew I could set the time aside for or focus for and I just wasn't. Or like said, I wasn't. level of your leadership that vision is something that will take you to that next level. And just like the Bible says, like without vision, the people perish. And I see you deeply desiring to create a very strong legacy vision for your family. Like I know that you really want to have a clear vision of like, where are you taking your wife and your kids? Five, 10, 30, 50 years down the road. exercising and moving my body And so the discipline to me was around improving every important area of my life. wow I could really be stronger. ⁓ And it takes the leader, which you are the leader of our family, it takes the leader to really cast that that vision, so we know where we're going. Yeah, absolutely. So those are our words of the year. And we are curious, we are excited, we are ⁓ ⁓ like you. And want to encourage you in that. we ⁓ want you to it doesn't matter if you're listening to this in January or July. ⁓ as a leader at work, I can be better as a father at home, I can be a better husband. Like, it would just be very helpful in multiple ways. It's not too late. You don't need the new year to begin new formation. We created that free Word of the Year guide to walk you through choosing your word and then building a plan on how to live it out. And so we really encourage you check that out. It is an incredible resource. It has been worked over multiple times. We've had so many students go through that guide and share the guide with their family and their friends and they keep coming back to it year after year. And we have a lot of testimonies of people saying that it has created this new permanent rhythm in their life, which is so cool ⁓ It amazing. And so in there, you're going to find a five step process on how to choose your word of the year. We have reflection worksheets. We even put a word bank in there of 100 plus words just to help you. it's just starting point for you. ⁓ And then we have prompts as well for you throughout the rest of the year to continue to reflect and continue to grow. Yep. So download the guide we are so grateful that you joined us for this episode. Thank you again and we look forward to seeing you time. Bye now.