new year

Every year, my everyone in my family chooses a word to live into for the coming year. This replaced my New Year’s Resolutions almost a decade ago. After I started this podcast, I have shared my word with you.

2016 was my year of Appreciation. I wrote letters to a number of people, letting them know how much I appreciated them in my life. I took a number of people out to lunch and did the same thing.

One person has since died. I treasure the fact that I had the chance of sharing my deep appreciation for him with him. So, yes, my word is important to me.

I put my word at the top of the calendar. So, when I open my schedule for the day, there it is, first thing in the morning. I am intentional about choosing it. And I am intentional in honoring that word throughout the year.

This year, my word is LEAN. It has a dual meaning for me. In this week’s Podcast, I share why I chose that word and why it is important to me (and I give you a rundown of all my other words in past years).

What’s YOUR word?

RELATED LINKS:
2015’s Word
Why I Choose A Word

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I always love New Years. A fresh start! New beginnings!

It is really the same reason I always liked the end of a semester at school. While arbitrary, it felt like a fresh start, and a chance to do things differently.

So, I used to sit down and right out my New Years’ Resolutions. I “limited” myself to 10.

If I were lucky, one of the 10 would still be going, come February.

One year, I thought, “This is not working! I will only do 3 resolutions!”

That was minimally more effective. Instead of a 10% success rate, I would be 33% successful. Much better, but still not great.

And generally, the resolutions didn’t move me forward very far.

There had to be a better way. . . .

Eight years ago, my church decided to choose a word to live into. That word was a word to stretch into, to grow into, to become.

THAT made the difference!

I became conscious about that word, focused myself on the word, and saw myself growing.

Since, my family has continued that tradition. Each New Year’s Eve, we share our word with each other.

This year, my word is. . . . Well, you will have to wait. It isn’t New Year’s Eve yet!

Want to know how to change your resolution into something that makes a difference?

Listen to my audio below. Then if you want, please leave your word in the comments below!

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My Word for 2017

Resolve!: Your 2015 Resolution in 1 Word