How to Choose a Word for the New Year

2019 is right around the corner so it’s the perfect time for me to share my strategy on choosing my yearly word. A lot of people wonder why I choose a word instead of making a New Year’s resolution. Well, let me explain: choosing a word allows you to accomplish many goals throughout the year. You’re not holed into one thing and then left feeling like a failure if you don’t accomplish said thing or if you totally change your mind about what you’re pursuing. Plus let’s say you accomplish your resolution in March. Then what? Are you just gonna chill the rest of the year?

Choosing a word that you want the year to encompass allows you to have a guiding point for everything that you do. You can use your word to make sure that what you are doing + saying are aligning with how you want to be living. Choosing a word allows you the opportunity to create a life that you love and can sustain. To improve and grow in multiple areas of your life.

Before I share my 2019 word with y’all, I want to share my words from the last few years.

2016 WORD: DO
2017 WORD: SAVOR
2018 WORD: INTENTIONAL

How did I choose these words? By using the strategy to the left.

I am very intentional with how I choose my word, because I want to make sure that it aligns with things that I want to accomplish in the coming year.

I start out by writing a major thought(s) that held me back in the current year. In early 2018, I struggled with thoughts of scarcity. I felt chained to work because I was afraid of running out of money. I was afraid to say no to any opportunities with the fear of losing out on an accomplishment.

After that, I go back up to the top of the sheet and write 3 mental goals that I want to accomplish in the coming year. These are typically mindset goals that might be tough to track but that I want to be conscious of.

Then, I write down 3 trackable goals that I want to accomplish. These are things that I can look back say either, “Yes I did it” or “No I didn’t do it.” There’s no gray area with these.

My favorite part is combating the major thought(s) that held me back in the current year with a counter thought to launch me into the new year.

Once the entire worksheet (minus the word itself) is filled out, I spend 5-10 minutes in meditation. For me, this means closing my eyes in a calm + quiet space and focusing on my breathing. I thank God for allowing me to be in that moment and then I reflect on the past year. I think about what felt positive and life giving as well as what did not go well and was life sucking.

To be honest, I usually get a feeling about what my word is going to be fairly quickly. But a strategy that I would use if I was struggling to zero in on one would be to write out a list of words that suit the goals I wrote down. Then I would meditate on each of the words on the list until I felt a pull toward one in particular.

I know this may sound “woo woo” if you’re not familiar with meditation (believe me, I used to think this sounded out there, too, lol) but I challenge and encourage you to just sit quietly with your thoughts for 5 minutes. It’s amazing the clarity that we can achieve when we quiet our minds and our surroundings and really tune into our spirits. I am a believer in Jesus so during my quiet meditations I am focusing on listening to the Holy Spirit. But if that’s not the place that you’re at, you can simply focus on your breath in and your breath out. Either way, I encourage you to carve out time regularly to reflect + slow down in a way that works for you.

I am so excited to live in a state of abundance in 2019! I will have abundance in my marriage, friendships, business, and finances. I truly believe that and I will make decisions throughout each day that point to ABUNDANCE. I did a lot of work over the last few months to train my mind to release scarcity-based thoughts in exchange for abundance-centered thoughts.

What word are you choosing for 2019?