NEW YEAR, NEW ME: HOW A WORD OF THE YEAR CAN HELP YOU ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS
Ready to make changes in 2023? Ditch the idea of New Year’s Resolutions, and begin choosing one word to focus on that year instead.
I was first introduced to the word of the year concept back in 2014 when I became interested in self-development and coaching. I truly don’t remember where I read about it first, but what I do know is that for me, it was a light bulb moment.
As someone who has notoriously been struggling with making New Year's Resolutions and breaking them come February, I thought to myself, why am I setting all of these goals when I’d probably have more success with just one? Having a word of the year turned out to be a really fun and efficient way to set my intentions and theme for the New Year — or any other life event for that matter.
What is a word of the year?
A word of the year is a guide to what you want to accomplish or a focus for a particular area in your life. It’s a great way to set an intention and work towards something that can provide real changes to your life.
A word of the year sets an intention — a theme for how you want the year to unfold. It acts as your guiding star, directs your focus, and embodies your energy for the following months.
Why should you choose a word of the year?
Choosing a word of the year is so much easier and more effective than picking 5 to 10 New Year's Resolutions. It acts as your guiding star, directs your focus, and embodies your energy for the following months. Consider it your personal, crisp headline for the coming year, the theme for the next 365 days.
The benefits of this are:
Instead of a rigid resolution, a Word of the Year is a constant reminder to focus on creating positive change.
You have only one thing to work towards, which will allow you to stay hyper-focused.
It will help guide your decisions throughout the year and continue moving towards your goals.
Instead of taking desperate and unsustainable actions toward your goals, it will help you focus on daily routines and habits, which — in the long run — are the key to success.
In accordance with the law of attraction, you attract into your life whatever you focus on and feel strongly about. As you practice embodying the word that you choose for yourself, you will attract experiences, people, and things that match that quality.
It creates momentum. Clarity around who you want to be will allow you to take action rather than constantly changing your mind.
How to choose your word of the year
Choosing your word of the year should become a yearly ritual. Take some time for this practice and pick a quiet place, where you can be alone. Set the scene by lighting some candles, and grabbing a pen and paper.
Make sure you pick your word of the year in a calm and quiet environment. The word you choose should be about creating the life you want, not about reacting to the life you live now!
Part 1: Brainstorm
Make two columns on your paper. On one side, write down what you are tired of tolerating in your life. On the other side, write down what you want to experience more of. So maybe you want to experience more abundance, fulfillment, confidence, or love. Maybe it's money, friendship, or more adventures. Don't judge the words that start to pop up. Just allow yourself to dream and write it all down.
Next, ask yourself how you want your year to feel. Nouns, verbs, anything works — just find words that feel good to you. Don't worry about grammar.
Finally, choose one to five words that embody what you want to become more of this year. Another great way to think about it is to consider the goals that you have for yourself this year. So, maybe you have a goal of growing your business. Perhaps you have a goal of hitting six figures or want to find a new job. Then ask yourself, who do I need to become in order to reach those goals?
Part 2: Edit
Review all the words together, then narrow them down to three. Ask yourself: which words feel the most exciting and right in your body? Also, notice which words scare you the most. Most of the time, the very trait we fear the most is the very trait that we need to embody more of.
Remember: to create something you've never had, you're going to have to become someone you've never been, and that can feel pretty scary! So ask yourself which of the words would have the biggest impact on your life. Which one would make you grow the most?
Part 3: Choose your word
This is the most difficult step in this process because you will have to narrow it down to just one word — your word of the year! If picking just one word feels challenging, remember that there is no right or wrong. Just listen to your gut and follow your intuition.
We fear that by picking just one word, we leave out the other areas of our lives we also want to work on. But what choosing one word really does is focus your energy and align your thoughts, your feelings, and your actions behind that decision. Making a choice is a powerful step that will impact all areas of your life because it requires commitment. And commitment can be hard. It means sticking to your decision no matter what. It means that you keep going and keep showing up even when you hit an obstacle and life gets hard. Commitment means that even though you don’t know all the answers, you are all in because you trust that the answers will come.
So ask yourself, what word am I committed to embodying this year? Choose your word and stick to it, and I promise the most amazing changes will happen in all areas of your life.
My word for 2023 is "breakthrough".
I did some journaling and gave myself space and time, but suddenly the word appeared before me and it felt coherent. And do you want to know exactly how it appeared? By doing one of those “The first 4 words you see in this image will be your mantra for 2023” puzzles.
It was actually the first word my brain picked up, and all I could think of was that I wanted to experience a breakthrough in 2023.
When I came up with that word — and this is a great tip for you as well — I looked up its exact definition in my dictionary. And the definition I found was that a breakthrough is the process of developing or moving gradually toward a more advanced state. And yes, that is exactly what I want to do in 2023
I am so ready to push through my own boundaries — and precisely this process of "pushing through" will be my theme for this year!
