Are you one of those people that create New Year’s resolutions at the beginning of the year, only to find yourself in March already giving up on them? Or maybe you are a part of the 38% of people who don’t make resolutions in the first place. Regardless, if you are working on your resolutions or not, it is likely that you have some lofty goals and aspirations for your business and personal life.
Studies show that the top three resolutions in America are to eat healthier, get more exercise, and save more money. Business goals might include meeting your sales quota, hiring top-notch salespeople, or improving profitability.
I typically create one personal and one professional resolution in January and try to stay on task with goals throughout the year. As I’m sure you can imagine, that is easier said than done. Excuses like “I don’t have time” or “There are no parking spaces in the gym parking lot” are good ones for me. It’s no wonder that a mere 8 percent of people follow through on their New Year’s goals, according to University of Scranton research.
A few years ago, I decided to take a different approach. Instead of resolutions, I committed to my Word of the Year. What One Word I could embrace throughout the year that would motivate and inspire me to reach my personal and business goals?
Why don’t most resolutions stick? They don’t work well because they address only one level of your life – the DO level. Example: “I am going to make more sales calls, lose weight, and spend more time with family.” At the DO level it can be overwhelming and difficult to stay on task, because there are so many moving parts to manage. When you create and commit to your Word of the Year, you focus on the BE level; what you want to BEcome as a result of all the doing. Examples from above would be – “I want to BE more efficient, more healthy, and a better mother.”
I know… it sounds a little woo woo. I thought the same until I was introduced to this concept by my business coach, and then worked through the exercise with a friend. We were on a plane headed to Utah from the east coast, with a lot of time to kill. So with a pen and cocktail in hand, we coached each other through the exercise and both landed on our perfect Word of the Year. Our words were very different, but they certainly embodied who we were in that moment and who we aspired to be. My One Word that year was JUMP, and it kept me focused throughout the year on the actions that I needed to do, to achieve my goals and become who I wanted to BE!
About the Word of the Year Exercise
I’ve since developed a process to help people discover their Word of the Year. The exercise guides you through a series of thought provoking questions. It starts out asking you to list the word or words that you are considering, and why you think they are the perfect words for you. Next, the exercise goes a bit deeper to ask, “If you embodied this word daily, what would be different for you?”
It continues with a series of questions that get you thinking about how your life would be different one year from now, if you were to live this word daily throughout the year. Aha! Then you consider what your year would look like if you ran in the opposite direction of your word. Hmmm.
Ultimately, you narrow down the original words that came to mind, perhaps even adding a few new ones in the process, ending up with the One Word that you resolve to incorporate into your life. This makes goal setting and the desire to create new proactive habits amazingly easy!
My word, JUMP, kept me motivated and inspired all year long to take a few calculated risks, try new tactics, and adopt a fearless attitude! One of those actions resulted in my establishing The Krista Moore Talk Show – a web-based series of interviews with experts and thought leaders in the business world, to share their stories and passions and inspire my audience through a new format. It was a lifelong dream of mine to be the next Barbara Walters, and my Word of the Year gave me the courage to jump in and do it!
But don’t take my word for it (no pun intended). I have done this exercise with many clients, friends, and family and they all have walked away with greater awareness, renewed energy, and a WORD they can embrace. Some folks even have theme songs to keep them inspired; IE: Van Halen 1984/JUMP.
If you would like to experience this exercise yourself, send an email to Bria@kcoaching.com, using the subject line Your WORD of the Year.