Why have a Word of the Year?
Every year, so many of us set ‘resolutions’, whether that be to eat more healthily, spend more time with family, or give up certain bad habits, but statistically, before the end of the first month, 95% of us have failed to keep that resolution and oftentimes we let the feeling of failure prevents us from trying again.
Habits can be hard to break and hard to build, and can also have us focusing too much on one area of our life, at the risk of neglecting other parts, when in fact balance is really key to our overall sense of wellbeing. So I choose to take a different approach – to identify a word for the year to help bring overall focus to what I want to achieve and what I want to get from life’s experiences.
As a coach, whilst setting goals is often part of a coaching process, more often it’s about recognising your own personal values and re-aligning your life to those. So having a word to help guide you to make progress towards a goal or realigning your life to your values can really help.
The process itself, of choosing a word, helps you focus on the goals and actions you want to work on for the next year. It also helps you determine your priorities, such as whether you will concentrate on family, personal growth, health, career, etc.
Whether you work on one life area or several, having a common theme – your word of the year – weaving through this really helps you to pay attention to how each part of your life fits together (or not).
How to choose your word of the year
I first came across the concept of having a ‘Word of the Year’ a few years ago, having already discovered both bullet journaling and Hal Elrod’s ‘Miracle Morning’ and his concept of a Level 10 Life.
My words for the years since then have been:
2018 – Cultivate
2019 – Discipline
2020 – Growth
2021 – Connection
2022 – Intentional
2023 – Courage
2024 – Cultivate
I first wrote this blog post in 2022, and I explained how and why I chose ‘Intentional’. Having followed the 3 steps below this was what I had to say:
I have chosen INTENTIONAL as my word of the year for 2022. the last couple of years has been a time of real transition for me, as I’ve shifted my career path away from full-time work in the corporate world, to working freelance as a Mental Health First Aid Instructor and Wellness Coach, which is where my passion lies. Life has also been turned on its head as a result of the pandemic, where our usual way of life has had to change at pace. Time with family has also been limited, so when I have had those opportunities I have been keen to make the best of them. When I have reflected on all this, I’ve recognised that for me to really make progress in the areas that matter to me, I need to really consider if how I am spending my time is serving me well. I’ve become very aware of the need to use my time wisely, and to really make sure that everything I do is with intention and purpose. That doesn’t mean working all the hours I have, but it does mean using my time and my energy wisely, making choices with my goals in mind, and fundamentally being INTENTIONAL. Of course, I will stray from this from time to time, as that is human nature. But by having my word of the year front and centre on my Vision Board I can check in and ask myself if I have been INTENTIONAL with my resources, be that time, energy, or finances, to best serve my goals.
And for 2023 I chose the word ‘Courage’ and I will explain how and why, and the 3 steps I take each year to reach my chosen word.
You may well have a word that already resonates with you and what you have in mind for the year ahead, but if the concept is new to you then I recommend this process I follow.
Step 1: Reflect
Reflecting on the past year, I’ve asked myself certain questions that help to give me a sense of direction, from both what I feel is lacking currently and where I want to be going.
- What would you like more of in my life?
- What could you have less of in my life?
- What do you want to focus on this year?
- What is a common theme across these areas?
A useful exercise can be to look at each area of your life and give it a satisfaction score from 1-10, and consider why. There are a number of tools that can help with this:
Wheel of Life – the principle on which Hal Elrod’s Level 10 life is based, the original concept of The Wheel of Life is attributed to the late Paul J Meyer who founded the Success Motivation® Institute and originally had 6 categories of Family and Home, Financial and Career, Mental and Education, Physical and Health, Social and Cultural, Spiritual and Ethical. It’s called the Wheel of life because each area is mapped out as part of a circle.
8 Dimensions of Wellness – Swarbrick’s ‘8 Dimensions’ model is based on research that has shown that our health and wellbeing are made up of many different areas, each of which is closely linked and depend on one another. Problems in one area of wellbeing will have an effect on other areas, yet at the same time, improving one area of your wellbeing can also benefit the others. In no particular order, these dimensions are: Physical, Spiritual, Social, Intellectual, Emotional/Mental, Occupational, Environmental, Financial.
As you can see, each of these tools follows the same principle of looking at your life in terms of different areas or dimensions, reflecting on the current balance of each area of your life. As you see which areas dip closer to the centre of the circle and which ones fall near the outside, it will illuminate where you are today. From this visual, you can start to determine what you want to continue, eliminate, improve, learn, or achieve.
Step 2: Visualise
If you are familiar with Hal Elrod’s “Miracle Morning”, you will know that part of his SAVERS routine is to Visualise.
Think about how you want your morning routine to feel, how you want to feel at work or throughout the day, and how you want to feel right before you go to bed. Visualise what the perfect day would feel like. And I emphasise – FEEL – as our emotional connection to our goals and intentions is what really helps to spur us on when things get tough, and helps us refocus when we perhaps stray off course.
Step 3: Shortlist
Having reflected and visualised, the next step is to shortlist. You might want to look at a list of words as a prompt, and pick out what resonates for you, then narrow this down to perhaps just 3 words. Then I recommend you repeat steps 1 and 2, reflecting and visualising what each word means for you.
My Word of the Year and why
After much reflection, I have chosen COURAGE as my word of the year for 2023. I’ll explain why.
In mid-2022 I took the brave step of leaving the safety net of employment to go fully self-employed. I received my last wage and P45 in late September, and since then have had the freedom and opportunity to choose how my time is spent and my money is earned. But the flipside of freedom and choice that self-employment provides, is uncertainty and self-doubt. I knew this was the path I wanted, I planned this with intention and I’m now here – standing on my own, a Company of One, reliant on no one but myself for what my future holds. Now that’s not strictly true – I have an amazing support network, and I am so very grateful for it. And that’s come from being wise enough to ask for help, to seek out support, knowing that collaboration and networking are key to business success. Yet it’s still scary to put myself out there and sell my services, to ask for business, and potentially be met with silence or rejection.
So for me, 2023 is the year I put my heart out there and show up with COURAGE. If you’ve read some of my other posts you will also know that words, etymology and the nuances of language are important to me. Courage comes from the Old French word ‘corage’ meaning ‘heart as the seat of emotions, a quality of mind which enables one to meet danger and trouble without fear. And before that, it comes from the Latin ‘cor’ meaning heart.
The current definition of courage are:
- The quality of being confident, not afraid or easily intimidated, but without being incautious or inconsiderate.
- The ability to overcome one’s fear, do or live things which one finds frightening.
- The ability to maintain one’s will or intent despite either the experience of fear, frailty, or frustration; or the occurrence of adversity, difficulty, defeat or reversal. Moral fortitude.
There are a few quotes around courage that really resonated for me when I was reflecting on what I want 2023 to look like:
So alongside COURAGE is action, vulnerability and facing my fears. It means confidently putting myself out there, taking consistent steps to be visible and show up for myself and my business, and accepting it’s going to be a bit scary at times. But if I want to grow my business, and grow personally, then COURAGE is what is required.
What word will you choose?
Have you ever used a word of the year to help focus your intentions? Have you used the Wheel of Life tool before to evaluate how you feel about each area of your life? This is a tool I use as part of my coaching programmes to help my clients identify what areas of their wellbeing they want to focus their attention on.
If you had to choose one word, or a short phrase, to sum up what you want to focus on in the new year, what would it be?
If you want a starting point to try this for yourself then download my 100 ideas for your Word of the Year
