Find your word for the year in 3 simple steps

Do you have your word for the year?

Do you set New Year's resolutions only to see them fail in January - I know I do.  I've always wondered why that is the case - if something is so important to me to make a resolution then why would I not do it?  I think I may have found the reason.  Having a resolution is too rigid, too specific, and it becomes a rule.

Anyway, a few years ago a wonderful friend of mine suggested instead of resolutions I could create a word for the year. Not something I had done before, but I liked the idea because it felt less restrictive.  

So I went off and researched this 'Find your word' phenomenon and gave it a go, and now  I have again found a single word that encapsulates everything I want to achieve in this year. And even better ...  every time I do something this year as long as it fits with my word of the year I will know that I am on track. Woop woop - very excited!!!

So how did I find my word?  I will explain ...

3 Simple steps to finding your word of the year

Step #1

Take just a few minutes to sum up what you want your life to be like this year and importantly how you would like to feel (connecting with the emotion of this is important for your subconscious to understand it is a priority for you).  Now write what you want for your year in a paragraph of around 5 sentences maximum.  

For example, I wrote "This year I'm going to be more open to sharing my life, behind the scenes and my painting process with my wonderful clients and followers. I will share those things which truly light me up, not just my art, but my world and the wonderful creatives I am connected to."

Don't skip this step it is really important.

Step #2

Take the paragraph you have created and condense it to 1 sentence which encapsulates what you want to achieve - this is actually quite tricky.  Make sure your 1 sentence covers all the important aspects of what you want.

For example, I wrote ... "This year I will share with my clients, my process, my moments of joy, and all the things and people who light me up."

Again don't skip this step it is really important.

Step #3

Spend a few minutes looking at your sentence and decide what your word for the year will be.  You don't need to restrict yourself to a word you wrote in your sentence -  it just needs to be a word that covers everything you wrote.  It could be a noun (a word that describes what you want or how you want to feel) or it could be a verb (a word that describes what you are going to do).  The word is personal to you and it has to have meaning to you.

I found it really tricky to nail the single word so I highlighted some keywords from my sentence and used thesaurus.com to come up with ideas for my final word.

So my word for this year is 'Embody'

This one word encapsulates taking back my creative time, sharing it with my clients and followers, while running my heart-centred business delivering incredible personal value for my clients.  Embody also represents living the life I have put out to the universe and not stressing about what I should be doing. This also represents being totally authentic which is incredibly important to me.

I'm now going to print this word off and stick it all over the house, keep it in my wallet and have it on my screen saver.

How did you get on finding your word?  Do share I would love to hear what is in store for your year - how magical is this!!!

Angela x