I’m going to dive into a powerful practice that can significantly impact the way you approach your year. This is something that I’ve done for a very long time.
It’s not making new year’s resolutions and nope, I do not do that. For 12 years now, I have been theming my year ahead. And a lot of people call it the word of the year. So I usually pick one to two words each year. And this has helped me tremendously, and I hope it will help you too. So, without further ado, let’s dive in!
Now, you might be wondering what exactly is picking a theme or a word of the year. Well, I’m going to talk about it in the sense of a word of the year. Um, but ultimately, any of these things that I ever share with you, you have to decide what is right for you. So A word of the year. So here’s what it is. A word that serves as a guiding principle or theme for your upcoming year.
Instead of making traditional resolutions that you may forget really quickly, or you might focus on for a little bit, but then it dies off really quickly, choosing a word of the year provides a broader, more flexible framework for personal growth and your development this year. So why does this matter?
WHY CHOOSE A WORD OF THE YEAR? WHAT DOES IT DO FOR YOU?
Why should you take the time to select a single word or a few words or a theme to shape the year ahead? Well, the answer really lies in the power of being intentional and getting focused. When you choose a word of the year, you’re essentially setting an intention for the type of person you want to become and the experiences you want to cultivate this year.
If you are looking to grow and to do big things, like I am this year, this is the practice for you. This is the exercise.
So let’s break it down. First off, selecting a word of the year forces you to reflect on your values. Your goals and your aspirations for this year and even into beyond this year.
It’s a moment of self discovery and I’m going to walk you through some things that I do that will hopefully help you do some reflecting, some discovering, and setting your intention for the year. It’s where you consider what truly matters to you and what you want to prioritize in the upcoming months.
Once you’ve identified your word or your theme, that’s when the magic really starts to happen, right? It becomes a reminder for you and a guide. So whether you pick a word like balance, growth, resilience, or any other word, this becomes your north star or your guiding light, if you will, for your year.
And it’s what guides your decisions. and the actions you take throughout the year. The word of the year exercise or practice also provides a level of flexibility that resolutions often lack. Life is unpredictable, right? Things happen. Things change. Circumstances change. If you choose a word of the year, your chosen word can adapt to different situations that you may find yourself in, different phases in life.
So it’s always offering a constant source of inspiration and motivation no matter what you face. So now, let’s explore how this practice can shape your year. So imagine you’ve chosen the word courage. How might this impact your decisions this year? Maybe you’ll be more willing to step outside of your comfort zone, take on new challenges or confront.
Fears that have often held you back. So Word of the Year also becomes a tool for self reflection. So you choose your word and then you’re regularly checking in with yourself. Checking in on the chosen word allows you to assess your progress and make adjustments throughout the year. It’s a mindful practice that keeps you aligned with your goals.
So this is something, like I said, I’ve done for 12 years. I started in 2011. I actually have YouTube videos out there. I started this so many years ago now. It’s become a thing for me that helps me shape my year. And it has proven to be a very helpful practice for me as I have. 12 years ago, I completely changed my life and built a personal brand, built a business, built multiple businesses.
So this is a practice that I use every single year, and I’ve been doing it now for 12 years. And I’m going to talk a little bit about my word of the year as well. So, but, before I do that, um, as we embark on this new year, this whole 12 months ahead of us, consider taking a little time to choose your word of words and reflect on it.
CHOOSE YOUR WORD/S – THEME
What themes or values resonate with you right now? Maybe it’s joy. Maybe it’s focus. Maybe you’re in need of connecting or connections this year. Choose a word that speaks to your heart and what you need in the right now in order to help you be in a place and be the person you want to become at the end of 2024.
With that said, if you have yet to choose your word and you are intrigued and want to go through this process, I’m going to throw out some examples. I’m just going to read some off that I wrote down and these, one of these, a couple of these might end up being your word of the year or they may spark something in you to choose your own.
EXAMPLES OF WORDS
Empower. Thrive. Transform. Courage. Unleash. Amplify. Create. Bold. Commit. Radiant. Receive. Ease. Launch. Focus. Spontaneity. Resist. Abundant. Resilient. Flourish. Elevate. Innovate. Radiate. Inspire. Adventurous. Explore. Contribute. Rest. Reimagine. Community. Intention. Fun. Joyful.
If you are doing this exercise right now, feel free to pause and choose your word or words for 2024. Once you have your word or words or your theme, here are a few questions to help you leverage your word and help you make a plan to start to make the most of this for yourself and your own personal growth in 2024.
REFLECT ON YOUR WORD/S
So here are a few questions that I want you to think about. Feel free to write them down or feel free to write down your answers as I list out these questions.
So what does this word mean to you?
What does it mean to me to feel (joy)?
What does it mean to me to feel connected?
What does it feel like to be, and then your word.
What does it feel like to be bold? What does it feel like to be adventurous?
Then reflect on when you have felt that way in the past. When have I felt bold in the past? When have I felt courageous in the past? And then also think about when. When do I feel courageous?
It more in the present. When do I feel courageous? When do I feel bold? When do I feel truly balanced? Of course, this is you want to insert your word and ask yourself this. If you haven’t felt or have haven’t been the what your word is, you can visualize, visualize and imagine you being or doing your word, right?
in order to answer these questions. You can visualize and or imagine being or doing your word.
Now I want you to take the time to visualize and imagine you being or doing your word throughout 2024. What is the feeling like? What does it feel like in your body when you visualize and imagine you being courageous, you doing courageous things.
Imagine where you are. Imagine what you’re doing. Imagine who you are with or who you are surrounded by. Imagine how you’re operating. What is your mode of operation? Imagine how you’re showing up.
What does it require from you and of you?
So these are all reflection questions, right? To get you to think about what your word means to you, how it feels inside your body and in your life. On the daily, when you have been that way in the past, when you have been that way in more of the present and visualizing how you want to feel and what you want to be doing and what you want to be like throughout 2024.
IDENTIFY/CREATE YOUR INTENTIONS/ACTION PLAN for YOUR WORD
So once you have done that and answered those and reflected on those, now I want you to think about what opportunities, what experiences, what activities or action steps you can take or create for yourself in 2024 where you can be, think, feel, act in the way of your word or your theme.
What opportunities, what experiences, what activities, what action steps can you create or take in 2024 where you can be courageous, where you can think courageously, where you can feel create, create courageous, or where you can act courageous? Of course, I’m using that as an example, but insert your word as you answer this.
And lastly, this is the flip side of things. This is the converse, but also a very powerful awareness piece to your word of the year practice. And by doing this sort of reflection work, you can also think about the things that you need to let go of, or this will also help you recognize how you might be holding yourself back in the past or throughout this year from truly being and thinking and acting like your word if you’re not mindful of them.
So this is the opposite of the questions, right? If you do this reflection work, this could help you let go of things, change some things up, leave behind a way of being or thinking or believing. that will prevent you from living your word or theme this year. So the question is, how are the ways I prevent myself from feeling courageous, from being courageous, or from living courageously, currently?
What are the ways that I have prevented myself from being courageous in the past? And how can I ensure I don’t repeat that this year? So part of it is reflecting and defining what Being your word is, or thinking like your word, or doing the things that reflect your word, and part of it is thinking about the things in your life, and who, and how you’ve been, and how you’ve acted.
That would prevent you from being that, so you can be aware of that this year. So you can also flip the switch and not be or do or think those ways. So once you’ve done the reflection work and identified opportunities, experiences, activities, action steps that will that you can create or take for yourself to really, truly be, think, feel, and act in the way of your word.
How can you put this or these things into an action plan for the year and be very intentional.
What is realistic to you?
Especially if this is something so different for you or requires or will require you to be or think or act a different way than is your normal default. It may require a lot of energy, focus, and change from you.
So, when you put together an action plan, you want to be very kind to yourself and mindful of what your capacity is. And how much change it will require from you. So when you’re putting together an action plan, You want to be very realistic and kind to yourself. So maybe it’s one task or activity a month that you can focus on.
Maybe it’s a weekly action steps or commitments to yourself. Maybe it’s a daily action step or commitment to yourself. In order to move you closer to living your word.
MY TWO WORDS FOR 2024 + EXAMPLE OF THE REFLECTION & IDENTIFICATION PROCESS
I have two words for 2024. I have two words, and I’m going to share them with you now and I will take you through my way of thinking about the reflection questions and some of the opportunities, experiences, action steps I’m going to take for one of my words in 2024 to help you have this come more to life as an example.
My two words for 2024 for myself is are Shine and Connection. So 2024 is my year to shine. And it’s also my year of connection. So for the sake of this episode, I’m just going to walk you through shine and what shine means to me. and how I’m going to bring it to life in my life.
So in going through the questions, what does it mean to me to shine? Okay. So I think shining is when you stand confidently in the truth of who you are. You shine when you stand confidently in your value system and in the gifts that you have. to bring to the world. Um, shining really to me means being the best version of yourself that you can be.
It means bringing out the best in yourself, bringing out the best of everything, bringing it forward into the forefront to glow right in order to help other people. Shining to me, shining bright to me is also bringing positivity, bringing guidance to people, bringing inspiration into the lives of others, into, into your life.
Um, it also means that you have a positive impact and bring bright light to other people’s lives. I want to get really intentional about shining this year. So what does it feel like to shine? Well, here’s what it feels like to me. It feels freeing. It feels loving. It feels very light. It feels open. It feels like I’m radiating.
I feel whole. I feel like I’m born for this. I think it feels like to shine. It feels liberating. It feels like I’m making a difference. It feels confident. I feel very confident. When I’m shining, I feel very worthy. I feel joyful. I feel purposeful. It feels fulfilling. It feels very attractive, a very attractive energy.
It feels meaningful. It feels real. It feels true. It feels aligned. It feels very positive and energetic. It feels helpful. I feel very bright. I feel bold and courageous and brave. I feel fierce. I feel like I’m glowing. I feel like I’m glowing. I feel fully alive. I feel grateful for this life and I feel complete as a person.
That’s what shine means to me. That’s what it feels like to me. So when have I really shined in the past? Well, I, I’ve shined in the past when I’m speaking my truth. When I’m shining the light on other people. That is truly one of the things I love the most. I love shining the spotlight on others. When I’m shining the light on the whole story.
Not just part of the story, but the whole story. When I’m leading by example. That’s when I’ve shined. When I am saying what needs to be said versus what people want to hear. That’s when I shine. That’s when I’m, that’s when I’ve shined in the past. When I’m facilitating change, when I’ve been paving new paths for myself and others, when I’ve been trying new things, when I am in creation mode, when I’m creating, when I have been problem solving.
I love to solve problems. I see so many problems and there are ones I want to solve and there’s ones That aren’t my, my mission in life to solve when I am creating new experiences for myself and others When I lead from love and kindness and compassion when I help other people see their own value and their own worth That’s when I’ve shined in the past when I am growing and changing and helping others do the same That’s when I’ve shined in the past and when I build communities that help other people connect that is truly When I’ve shined in the past.
So when do I shine? Okay, this is another question. So I’m using this, of course, as an example, because one of my words for this year is to shine. So when I shine is when I’m creating media, when I’m speaking to groups, when I’m helping people see their own truth, when I’m helping people live truer and freer and more whole and aligned to their desires and dreams and what they believe their life should be.
When I’m on stages, when I’m on the airwaves, when I’m at the center of things, when I’m guiding people, when I’m leading from the front of the room or around a table with like minded people. When I shine, I am out in front, ahead of others, but I’m ahead only in the journey to help others. When I’m helping other people create their brands and have aha moments with, around their own self awareness, self love, and brand, and building their brands.
When I am promoting and championing other humans, when I’m leading a group, when I’m expressing myself, these are all ways And when I shine, when I am sharing stories, when I’m contributing to a group, when I am connecting others, when I’m connecting other people to each other, when I’m taking good care of myself, that is truly when I shine.
When I’m working out consistently, when I do yoga and breath work, when I am moderating and not over consuming, whatever that is. When I am writing, when I’m journaling, when I’m trying new things and sharing my lessons that I’ve learned, when I’ve slept well, when I prioritize myself first, and when I’m helping other people, when I am learning and growing, when I am not being perfect, when I’m dancing, when I’m doing things and activities that are mindful and that bring me joy.
That’s when I truly shine. So what opportunities and experiences, activities, actions, steps can I create for myself to shine in 2024, where I can be, think, act, and feel in a way that I shine. So here are a couple of the action steps that I just brainstormed. So again, this is an example to help you use these questions as tools to create, to reflect and create your action steps for your 2024, but these are mine for my year to shine.
So number one, I’m going to focus on taking care of myself first. So adjusting my daily routines to work out consistently, limiting over consumption. And consumption time of things like social media, media, other people’s work, um, over eating, over drinking alcohol, over being around toxic or negative, um, conversations.
So I’m not going to do those things. I’m going to limit consumption of any of those things. Um, I am going to take care of myself first by continuing to do mindful activities. Um, mindfulness activities to me are things that I do to create things that bring me joy, but provide a mindfulness practice. So I create and make cold process soap.
It is a very mindful, beautiful creation process for me that allows me to take care of myself first. So number two, I’m starting my days with self love affirmations and prioritizing the most important shine worthy tasks in my days. Uh, creating these podcast episodes weekly, creating opportunities to shine on other people’s podcasts, creating a content plan that helps me shine, speaking my truths and sharing my story and sharing inspirational things with all of you, and taking in, but the content plan that takes into account and balances out my capacity, my joy of creation and my schedule and also that is strategic, okay?
The only way that I believe I’m going to be able to shine is if I create. A realistic content plan for myself. Also, I’m going to create and find opportunities to be on stages, to speak at events and groups locally and online. I’m going to create and find opportunities to serve others on other people’s podcasts and groups.
So I can help shine the light on others. and help serve other people through others. Um, I, this is, I have to think through this, but I want to create a group to help other people connect, uh, to tell and practice telling their stories and grow in business, uh, taking time weekly or daily to connect with other people online authentically.
Connecting with others and connecting others is definitely a way I shine. When I’m in hard situations, conversations, and life phases, I am going to lead from compassion and truth and empathy. Also, I am going to write daily or weekly. So those are some ways that I brainstorm to create opportunities, experiences, activities, and action steps for myself in 2024 so I can shine.
So I can bring my word to life in my life to help me grow as a person, as an entrepreneur and as a personal branding strategist and coach to all of you. So I haven’t gotten to my actual action plan yet, but that would be from all of these opportunities, experience, activities, action steps. I would then. Take it and start to put it into an action plan for myself that again is realistic So I don’t get overwhelmed so I can truly shine Throughout 2024 so that will be my next step word of the year such a powerful practice and process to help you become and be the person you want to be throughout 2024 and so you’re at the place at the end of 2024 so you’re reflecting on And you’ve become the person you want to be.
So, thank you for listening to my word, my shine word. I’m going to do the same exercise for my connection word. I’m going to go through that same process. So thank you for joining me on this first episode in 2024. I hope this exploration and this practice of the word of the year or the theme of the year has inspired you to embark on your own journey of getting intentional about your year and about your growth with this practice.
I INVITE YOU TO SHINE WITH ME! SIGN UP for THE SHINE SHIFT
If you want to come along with me to Shine in 2024, I would love to invite you, I would love to shine together. I have created a way for us, this is going to be for me and it’s also going to be for you, to shine shift, if you will. So, I’ve created a weekly email where I’m going to send a reminder out to you.
It will also be a reminder to me to shine in 2024. So, to sign up to receive my weekly shine shift emails for your and our weekly reminder, please sign up for it. It will be in the show notes. I am going to include one way to shine in 2024 and one resource to help you shine bright. Like the freaking diamond you are.
The signup link will be in the show notes. So I invite you along with me to shine in 2024 and I invite you to go through this exercise to create your own word so you can be calm. and grow into the person you want to be at the end of this year. And as always, remember that personal growth always is a continual process and choosing a guiding word or theme is just one step along the way to building your personal brand and living your brave and bold life.
If you found this helpful and if you’ve chosen a word of the year, you know, I would love to hear it.
DM me on Instagram or Post on your Instagram stories about your word of the year and tag me so I see it, and I will cheer you on, encourage you, and I will help you shine by sharing it on my Instagram as well.
Remember, you are brave, you are bold, you were born brave and bold, and you deserve to live a brave and bold life that you create for yourself. Let’s do that by building your personal brand. And until next time, my friends. Have a good 2024! and take good care of yourself.