This post is the second post in a series with ideas to help you start your new year strong, and with a renewed sense of purpose and motivation besides the traditional “new year resolution.” I hope you’ll find the thing that works best for you. If you missed post No. 1 you can read it here.
For a few years now, instead of setting a new year resolution I’ve picked a word that’s like a theme for what I want for that year to be… and for me to be that year.
I think about what I want to accomplish in the year, what I want to change, get better at, how I want to grow, and choose a word that sums that up.
In 2019 my word was confident. I knew I needed to push myself in business and I needed the confidence to do it. And I knew by pushing myself my confidence would grow too. The word worked, I can confidently say I feel more confident today than I did this time last year.
My 2020 word is easy. I wanted something, oh I don’t know….bigger… to follow up confident but I kept coming back to “easy”. The past few months my mantra has been “let it be easy.” so I think it’s stuck.
So far the word seems to be working – I’m finding myself becoming less of the perfectionist I’ve known myself to be. I’m getting more done, moving on faster, and learning faster as a result. Highly recommend this one for any fellow recovering p-words out there.
So Easy it will be. Fitting for the big chunks I’ve bitten off for the year ahead. A lot is in the works folks, and making easy my mantra is gonna help get me through. I can feel it.
How to Come Up With Your New Year Word
I didn’t follow a process this go round. For me, it was just a word that I kept hearing in my head and that resonated with me.
Perhaps you have more than one. Ask yourself which one feels the strongest? Which are you most drawn to? Or which one could potential encompass the others as well?
If you’re drawing a blank, that’s OK and totally normal.
Try journaling about it.
Here are some questions to get the juices flowing…
- What do you want to be better at this year?
- How do you want to grow this year?
- What do you want to focus on this year?
- What is the one thing that having it would make everything else better?
- What do you want to have at the end of the year that you don’t have right now?
- What do you want to look back on this year and say, “that was the year that I _____________.”?
You could also write about all the things you want to do this year. Go wild.
Then ask yourself, what do I need to be able to achieve these things?
Sum that up in one word.
The Power of a Word
I think what makes the one word so powerful is that it’s simple.
It’s easy to remember. It stays in your mind. And you recognize it when it shows up in opportunity.
Give it a try and see what you think. I’d love to know.
What’s your word for 2020? Share it with us in the comments.
When you say it out loud, tell someone else, write it down here below in the comments, you’re telling your unconscious mind “hey, this is important.” And it sticks much stronger than when we jus think these things to ourselves. If there’s something you want – a word you want 2020 to be all about for you, leave it in a comment. And, as one study proved, you’ll be 42 percent more likely to make it happen.
