Ep 161: How to Choose Your Word of the Year (And Why It Matters)

It's about having the clarity , self-confidence and unstoppable belief to go after and get everything you want . If you'll come with me , I'll show you how Well . Hello friends . I hope you had an amazing week , the first week of 2024 . So exciting . I love a new year and I love new things in general .

So exciting to just kind of have a blank slate , like I said in the last podcast 365 empty pages to write on . I think , when you think about it that way , it's just so full of promise and possibility , you know . So I hope your year is off to a great start .

This week has been special for me because just a couple of days ago , on the fourth , I crossed my third year anniversary of this podcast . And you know , when I started this podcast a little over three years ago now , I promised myself that I would do it for a year consistently and that seemed daunting enough .

I have to be honest , you know , starting the podcast and learning I do it all myself right . So all of the mixing and all the editing and I still . My business is still very bootstrappy because I'm not doing this full time . I have a career in corporate .

But this is important to me and it is a lot about what my future is going to be when I'm done with my career someday , whenever that is .

But for right now , one of the reasons I wanted to start it right now is that I think it's helpful to look to others who are doing the same thing you're doing and who have some things to share , based on their own past experiences . And I've been on a journey .

You know I'm probably further along in my midlife part of my journey than a lot of you who are listening .

And for that reason and I've been through a lot I've climbed my way up the ladder to the senior executive ranks and I've worked in some of the largest brands in the United States and the brand strategy function , and so you know I've been through and seen a lot , and I know all of you have too .

But this podcast is really intended to just give you a fresh perspective and , honestly , it's the primary reason that I launched the podcast on a Sunday , because , if you look at all the stats , Sunday is the worst day to have a podcast episode drop because people are out living the life and doing other things .

And so I knew that and I knew it before I picked the day .

But the reason that I did it is because , if you look at all the stats of people who work in corporate , sunday blues are a thing Maybe not every week and maybe not for everyone , but it is a thing and people can nuke their whole Sunday just totally devolving into worry and dread and all of that stuff about the week to come .

And so the reason that I chose Sunday is because , if you're feeling that way , if there's any amount of dread about the week to come or whatever , I wanted to be a place that people could come and get a little bit of fresh perspective for the week . That's really why I did it .

If I look at my own stats , some of you listen on Sunday , but most of you listen on Tuesday or Wednesday , and I get it . You know you're into your week and you're commuting or whatever you're doing , and that's when I think listenership is highest on Wednesdays . So I'm no different .

But I drop it on Sunday because I want there to be something new and fresh for people to listen to . So that's kind of the why behind that one . But I digress , that is not what we're talking about today .

What we are talking about today is how to have a very intentional approach and filter on the year to come , because it is 365 days that you get to write on and to be intentional about . But you know , new Year's resolutions are a thing and they are famous for people setting them , but they are equally famous for people not staying with them .

And one of the reasons why the biggest reason why we don't stay with our New Year's resolutions , is because we're focused too much on the things we need to go do or the actions we need to take , and when you focus on what I call , in my business , the A line , the problem with that is that it's hard to stay true to that right , because that requires a

continual remembrance of having those goals at the top of your mind and also it requires you to always be motivated and to always be consistent with it .

And life just gets in the way and sometimes we set too many goals , we're not as focused or as inattentions we need to be , and so I just don't like to focus there when I'm working with my clients or myself , I just don't do it . I used to , and I still do have a set of goals that I go after that are well articulated .

I know what the things are that I want to go do , but I started making a lot more progress in all parts of my life when I shifted my focus from just solely focused on the actions I need to go take and instead shifted it to who I need to be in order to accomplish that goal .

That is a simpler filter to put on the year , but also a more powerful filter , because when you think about being intentional every day in your career and your life , having a filter on it , that's one word . So , yes , I am talking about choosing a word of the year .

When you think about a word of the year , that is a very important thing to say , to say what is the one word that I want to embody my year , who I need to be and show up as in the course of my year , and that word becomes the filter that you put on your life every day .

It's the filter that helps you pick out the outfit you wanna wear that day or when you're about to step into the room maybe a difficult room at work , you know . Maybe you've gotta give a speech , or maybe you've gotta persuade a bunch of people who don't wanna do what you want them to do , whatever it is .

Having that filter means that you put on that persona and that's how you show up when you enter that room . So when I talk about who you need to be , that's what I mean being that thing with consistency and intention .

So you might be saying , yeah , but like , I've got goals , like across my life , some of my goals are about me and some of my goals are about my relationships and some of my goals are about my career and some of my goals are about my family . I get it , but you can still choose one word , and that might seem hard .

You might think you need four or five words . I'm telling you one word will work and I'm gonna run you through an exercise on this episode that kinda helps you triangulate on that word . There's five things I want you to do if you wanna choose your word of the year .

The first thing that I want you to do is I want you to think about the things that you wanna accomplish this year across all of your life .

So , like I said , relationships , families , career , business , finances , self-care , all of the things and I want you to , for all of those , think about those individual goals and I want you to come up with a set of action words that describe some of the outcomes of those goals that you wanna have .

So , for example , if one of your goals is to take more care with your financial health , maybe invest is one of your words . If one of your goals is to get out in life and be more active , one of your words might be walk or run or exercise .

If you're trying to be more intentional about something I'm really bad about , I'll just say and I'm trying to do better this year is taking vacations .

I plan so much in my corporate life that planning a vacation just feels really hard , and sometimes I'll have friends that'll reach out and they'll be like hey , I think we need to go here , and I'll be like I'm in , like , and they'll plan it , and I just show up , not proud of that , but it's true , I'm trying to plan a couple myself and inviting friends

with me . I never do this , so I think there's a couple of them that are sitting back and watching and thinking , yeah , we'll see if she actually if she actually does that , I'm doing it Right .

So one of my words is plan , because I tend to reserve all of that for my business and my corporate career and when I'm out of that mode , I tend to kind of go with the flow and I'm trying to be a little more intentional . So that's what I'm talking

about . So think about who you are and how you show up every day and some of the things you wanna do , and come up with a set of words that describes the outcome , not sentences , individual words . So things like run , exercise , plan . I'm trying to write some books . So one of my words is write .

You know , maybe it's about if you're thinking about a business of your own and you just haven't gotten around to it . Maybe launch is one of your words launch the business . Maybe if it's about your financial health , maybe invest is one of your words .

So that's number one is if you think about all the things you wanna do , then I want you to think about a set of words one word each that describes some of the outcomes of those goals for you . So that's one way you'll come up with a list of words .

The second way you're gonna come up with a list of words is by just looking at yourself in relationship to your goals or the life that you wanna have , who you wanna be at the end of the year , and I want you to capture a list of the skills or character traits that you would need to demonstrate in order to have or accomplish some of the things that you're

trying to have or accomplish . So those are character traits that you would embody . So they might be things like confident , consistent , focus , diligent , resilient , gritty , things like that , like traits that you would need to demonstrate in order to go do those things right . So that's number two .

Number three I want you to think about what you need or want more of in your life . So these are the things that you feel are lacking . So probably one of the big reasons why you set the goal is that you have , in the first place so they're kind of like your needs . What do you need more of ?

Is it balance , peace , abundance , courage , purpose , connection with people ? Fun might be one . I need a little more fun in my life . So that's number three is what you need more of in your life . And so come up , think about your needs , what you'd love to have more of and write down the one word response that comes up for you on those things .

That'll give you your third set of words . Four , I want you to think about , day in and day out , how would you want to feel ? What emotional state do you need or want more of in your life ? So these could be things like loved , useful , compassionate , joyful or happy .

They could also be things that describe more like how you want to show up , like confident , could be things that you want to feel as an outcome , or like blessed or prosperous , right . So think about feelings that are feelings that you would like to have day in and day out and come up with a set of words , right ?

And then the last one to come up with your set of words is what are your values ? So what is getting in the way of you living the way you want to live ? Write down the values that you want to strengthen or to show up as a bigger part of your life . So these might be things like spirituality . They might be things like creativity .

They might be things like I want my family to be more of a force in my life . Maybe you are interested in giving back to others , so maybe serving . So what are the things that are important to you ?

So once you have all of these words across all five things , then I think a fun thing to do is to take that list of words and go to some resources online like thesauruscom or something like that , and look up some other words .

It's that kind of broadens it takes a core set of words that you came up with and it broadens the possibilities into a broader set of words and you know that can expand the universe of things that you have to choose from as well . So that's really fun .

And sometimes when you look at that set of expanded words so the words you came up with by going through the five things that I took you through , and how those words expand , when you go into thesauruscom , sometimes you look at that full set of words and one will just instantly pop for you Right .

Sometimes not Sometimes it takes a week to just kind of think about it and try a word on think about it , but I think it eventually will come to you .

But if it doesn't , a fun thing to do would be to say , okay , we'll pick five that are in the running and write those down on a piece of paper and put them in a cup or glass and pull one out and let that be your word . Right ?

The point is you need to choose one word , and I know that can be hard . I know I'm in the middle . I'm picking my word by the end of the day today , so I've got two or three that I'm thinking of and I'm not sure , and then , when I have it , here's what I'm going to do with it . This is why it's so important .

I'm actually going to create a mood board , so kind of like a vision board that people have , but I'm gonna put that word on that board and then come up with a set of imagery that embodies that word to serve as inspiration for me . Those pictures that I select are going to relate to the goals that I have .

So you know , one of my goals , like I said , is writing . So something to do with writing or books is gonna be on my board . One of my things is wardrobe . I just totally weeded out . I did a huge , two huge runs to the charity , the local cause that I like to give to , and some of the things I gave away I'd never even worn .

So I've been not as intentional , I would say , about buying things , and I just decided to be kind of ruthless with myself and if I haven't been wearing something for the past six months , I'm giving it away .

So I gave away some really nice things , things that hadn't been worn , and I thought you know what great it's like someone else will be blessed with that for not very much money , and for me , it teaches me a lesson to be more intentional .

So one of mine will be style , one of mine will be in my corporate career , one of mine will be for my business and one of mine , like I said , is about being more intentional , about fun and plan full . So a lot of my imagery will be around those things .

But your images that you would put on your mood board once you pick your word will be related to the things that you're trying to accomplish , too Right . So a great way to do that it's fun to go to Pinterest . It's fun to , if you're , if you like , actual magazines , to clip them .

I like to create a digital mood board , get my inspiration from Instagram or a Pinterest or whatever , but you can do it either way and that becomes really your filter for the year and it's a reminder on a daily basis of how you want to show up , like if your word I'm just gonna pick a word If your word was elevated because you're trying to I'm making this

up on the fly , so you're trying . Maybe you're trying to get promoted , maybe you're also trying to , like me , uplevel your wardrobe or your personal style a little bit . Maybe you're trying to uplevel your surroundings in your life . Maybe you're trying to increase your rate of savings , like all of it .

All of those things are in some form about increase or raising the bar . So you might choose a word like elevated . Well , if that's your word for the year , here's how it's helpful . Like if you just play it out in terms of your life .

Let's just say it's Monday morning , your average Monday morning , and that day you have a couple key meetings at work , right , maybe where you're playing a key role . Well , maybe in your past , maybe last year , you would just have a go-to outfit . You know you two or three go-to outfits .

If you're like me , that you would do if you're having a day like that . But if you have a word like elevated , like that puts a filter on how you assemble yourself that day .

So maybe it's less about having a go-to outfit , and it's more about being a little more intentional about how you put your outfits together , the things that you select and buy , even like as you're getting ready for your day , paying attention to every aspect of your appearance your shoes , your , the way you put your outfit together with your accessories , the purse

you carry , the jewelry you wear , the way you do your hair and makeup . I know this is a really specific example , but that is something that I think a lot of us get on automatic pilot right , and we have these , this set of go-to outfits that we'll wear and we don't even really think about it .

But if you had a word like elevated and you went into your closet in the morning , that's gonna inspire you to pay a little bit more attention to how you put yourself together and that , in turn , is going to before you walk into that room . It's gonna give you , I think , a increased level of confidence .

You're more on , you're more present , you're more intentional about who you're trying to be .

And so even that word , when you think about that first meeting you might have of the day where you're playing a key role , or maybe it's a more difficult meeting where you're having to persuade people or influence people who maybe aren't buying in to something that you're trying to sell in at work .

It's like if you were elevated , then the way that you would go about presenting and the way that you would go about even carrying yourself your presence in that meeting would be different . Right ? There'd be something just a little bit more upleveled about how you're showing up . Or let's take it to a completely different thing .

Let's say that one of your words is about being more prosperous in this year . Let's just say that's your word and you're trying to be more intentional about how you spend your money , how you invest your money . Maybe you're looking for an uplevel job opportunity , so everything in your life really is about being more prosperous .

Well , let's just say that you're thinking about vacation options and there's a range of options that you could do , and maybe there's a range of things that you're interested in potentially doing , but one of them is you want to go to a certain city and it just so happens in this certain city there is a conference or an event that is around investing or showing

up as an entrepreneur , or something like that .

It's like combining your vacations with one of your big intentions is probably going to lead you to not only having that fun outcome for the vacation , because it's where you want it to go , but maybe if you combine that with something else that's about learning or contributing to your life in some way , it's going to help with that prosperous intent .

It's a filter that you put on your life and on yourself so that you show up in that way on a daily basis . And I think that's why it's so helpful , because when you have a goal , it's like we can be sporadic with going after the goal or taking the set of actions that we need to take .

Sometimes we can be consistent and consistent , but if you have a one word filter to say , okay , so every day , no matter what , once you pick your word , I'm going to be this word , this is the part I'm playing , and you think about a character in a movie , because I love the movies and I work in the movie business . Now , so fun .

When you think about a lead actor , they're channeling attributes of that character and they're showing up in that way . They're sort of doing that through their entire presence , from their wardrobe to their even sometimes the accent that they have , the way they deliver their lines , the mannerisms that they portray .

That is a character they're playing and to some extent in your life you're playing a character . I just feel like most of the time we're doing that without intention , we're doing it by default .

We're playing the role in our life that we've always played , that we saw other people , maybe earlier on in our life , play in their life , and we're just on default showing up in the same way every day .

That probably , if we put this level of thought into it about who we want to be , who we want to embody in a word this year that puts a filter on the life that is very specific and everything that you do from the activities you do to how you show up at work , to how you put yourself together , to how you tackle your hobbies , to how you interact with

your friends or your family all of that starts to put a different filter on you and what you need to do to really live up to that word . That's why I think it's so powerful . So I don't just think it's this Instagram little gimmick that you might be thinking or you might think , oh , I'm so tired of hearing about the word of the year .

Actually , I think we all need it because it's a very simple way to add a lot more intention into how you channel your energy for the coming year . And it's a way for you to make sure a simple way , I think , for you to make sure that you're showing up the way you want it to show up every single day .

And I think without that filter it's really tough to do . And I will say , for me it makes a lot of sense . And at first , for a couple of years , I kind of resisted it and then it was last year that I thought about it and I thought , wait a minute . Like this is something that we do , and what I do in my career is brand strategy .

I've talked about that before in the podcast and when you have a brand that you're managing , you have a set of brand foundations that you have articulated and they include everything from the color that they use , the tonality that they use , there's pillars and sort of core strengths of the brand . There's all of these different layers that you have .

But I always think , once you have all of that , it's really , really helpful to boil it all down into one to two words . So brands have a filter , you know . If you look at just one of the brands I think does really well is I've never owned one but Subaru .

Back in the mid 2000s they came out with a new positioning , a new campaign for the brand , and the campaign has continued to evolve . But they have tied their brand to love .

So Subaru , in their mind for the brand marketers that are working there equals love , and so that's the filter they put on everything that shows up in how they structure their advertising campaigns and it's how they tie all the attributes of the Subaru to it being about love love for the customer and the love that the customer has for the product .

It's a very beautiful , simple thing and I thought it was genius when they came out with that , because there is no higher word you can use for anything than love , you know , and so it's very smart to tie their brand and their product to that word .

So , as soon as they really allowed myself to remember oh , this is something you do every day for the brands that you work for you give them a word or two words and that's the filter you put on all the work to make sure that it's living up to you , all of the attributes and the structure that you've put around the brand .

It's like as soon as I got that , I was like oh , this isn't just an Instagram gimmick , this is something I need , too . Like . Why wouldn't I ? If I'm doing it for a brand , why wouldn't I do that for my own life , right ?

Why wouldn't I have a word that express everything that I am intending to be and how I want to show up every day in the year to come ? So that's the beauty of it .

So I would encourage you to run through the exercise , the five things come up with your core set of words that are tied to the things that you want to go do this year , and then expand that set of words a little bit by going to thesaracom and looking at the words you wrote down and coming up with an enlarged or expanded set to choose from .

And then look at those words and try to figure out , of all the things you want to go accomplish this year , what do you need to show up as most in order to make all of that happen , right ?

And once you have that word , once you have the word , I really encourage you to do a mood board , think about the goals and come up with one picture per goal that you think expresses that word , and let that be your inspiration , right ?

I think that's a really interesting way to think about being very intentional this year , and I think it would allow you and I know it's going to allow me when I pick my word tonight it's going to allow me to really show up that way with consistency , day in and day out .

And I think that , more than just the actions I take , having the intentional filter on my day and everything that I do , that's going to do more to ensure that I actually accomplish those goals than anything else that I could do . They're the most structured action plan .

Who I'm being is going to most readily lead to the outcomes I want if I'm being very intentional about that . So that is why I would like you to choose your word of the year . So , with all of that said , enjoy it . That's a really fun exercise .

It's a really fun filter to put on your year , and I think it's a really fun once you have your mood board done .

It's a really great way to stay inspired and grounded and , like me , I do my mood board not as a printed thing , I do it digitally , and so this year I'm actually going to try to save it as a screensaver on my phone too , that I can pull up and use as a default screensaver .

We'll see if I can make that work , but I would invite you to do the same thing . I guarantee it's going to fill your year with purpose and intention and it's going to more readily lead to the outcome that you want , and that

is what you deserve . That is what I'm wishing for each of you in 2024 . And with that I'll leave you till next time . Make it a great week . My friends , do you have a life coach ? If not , I'd be so honored to be your coach . I've created a virtual coaching program and monthly membership called Next Level .

Inside we take the material you hear on this podcast , study it and then apply it . Join me at thepurposefulcareercom backslash next level . Don't forget the purposefulcareercom backslash next level . Join me and together we'll make your career and life everything you dream of . We'll see you there .