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Instead of New Year’s Resolutions, Try a Word of the Year
Yesterday, I shared my annual planning ritual. Today, I’m starting a series of articles diving into the steps in that ritual in all their gory and beautiful detail. Today — selecting a word of the year.
Twelve years ago, I started to build an annual planning routine that grounded me for the year ahead. A key to that was giving up New Year’s Resolutions — which I had nearly always failed at by the end of January. Instead of resolutions, I began selecting a one word theme for the year.
At the end of each year, I add these words to my personal strategic plan document under guiding words. A word of the year, once selected, never leaves you. My past words have been: Create * Intention * Action * Authentic * Light * Thrive * Joy * Journey * Flourish * Balance * Flow * Breathe. For the first time in 2022, I allowed myself two words — Simplify and Persist.
Selecting a one word theme is more free-form than setting New Year’s Resolutions as it gives clear direction but is also something that can — and for me has — evolved and changed during the year. Sometimes, the word comes to me in September or October and other years, the word is sneaky and I have to spend a great deal of time uncovering what the theme will be for the upcoming year. Regardless of which it is, I find the process of thinking about and…
