My word for the year. Here's why.

Sometimes a decision hardly feels like a decision at all. This was one of those times. 

My word for 2017: Variation.

Simply put, I’m looking to invite in variation. This means seeking out adjustments, changes, or fluctuations so I can introduce difference to my day and my creative process.

To vary. As I see it, it’s about creating change from within.

Why?
Variation is oxygen, in the way it breathes life into the familiar or predictable.

And while this may seem counter-intuitive, you can pare back an idea—that is, simplify it to uncover what’s essential about it—and still explore variation within it. Think about this approach as variations on a theme, and not a grab-bag variety hour.

I’d say that's how you propel insight and interest. In fact, it can help you foster loyalty to your idea (or project) by allowing you, through variation, to discover new things you hadn’t noticed before.

Equally important:
Variation is information.

Inviting in variation builds your skill and insight, and gets you more comfortable with change. You develop mastery (or expertise) not by seeing the exact same situation 1000 times, but tens, hundreds or more variations on a similar situation. It’s how you evolve professionally and personally. And again it keeps things feeling alive, not rote, Or put another way, using an approach of consistent variation (yes, it’s a thing) as a means to explore an idea is what allows you to become a skilled specialist. Not brute repetition.

Your turn:
How might you incorporate variation into your day or creative process?
And what might that mean for you?