Happy New Year!
And we’re back!
To that glorious time of year when everyone asks — “What’s your new year’s resolution?” As though miraculous life-changing habits happen by sheer will of force because the numbers tick over!
Improving habits as they relate to your physical, mental, emotional or spiritual health is of course important, but setting them up as new years resolutions seems like we are willing them to fail. No matter whether holistic, specific, written, or verbal, new years as a motivation to change habits just don’t seem to work.
What is One Word?
You choose a word that resonates with you, and you live your life by that one word throughout the year. So whenever you have indecision or are at a crossroads, the one word will lead you to the answer.
Why one word? Because…
- Resolutions are rarely kept. I have never kept a resolution, not really. And I don’t many others who have either.
- Resolutions try to cover too many aspects of life. You need too many! I want to be healthier, I want to be smarter, I want to give more…
- Resolutions are optimistic, rarely realistic. I want to run every day, but not train or put actual habits in place that will help me achieve this…
- Resolutions are delayed accountability. We wait until New Year to make changes we likely should have made months ago. Ahem. Speaking for a friend.
- Broken resolutions bring bad feelings. Yup, there it is, that onset of guilt and defeats when you don’t achieve those lofty goals, and who wants that?!
- Resolutions are just continuous improvement. Continuous being the keyword here, they are cyclical and therefore it is irrelevant when we start them right?
- One word is easier to remember. There is only one word, so seems obvious to state this but it really is easier to remember and focus.
- Focus is inherent in one word. It can be applied to anything but forces us to hone our activity, energy and action around our core focus that year.
- One word is adaptable. You can apply to any topic or circumstance and it actually teaches us implicit creativity and innovation
- One word cannot fail. You have no lofty goal to attain, you just have to keep focus and come back to that one word!
Simplify this process with just One Word for 2022.
The “Word of the year” is new years resolutions simplified. There are now many sites that espouse the value of “One Word” such as One Word 365 “One word. 365 days. A changed life.” or My One Word “Change your life with one word.” and while these might seem like lofty goals, my years since 2017 have proven it’s possible.
2017 my one word was “Create” and here’s what happened -
- I created three equity partnerships and three new businesses, as well as created opportunities for business collaborations in four different countries.
- I wrote two chapters that were published in two independent publications, wrote articles for external publications and LinkedIn, and even the occasional personal blog.
- I came up with app ideas, UX design and concepts, for my businesses to take into development in the new year.
- I created opportunities to build new networks, to support people who needed advice, by coaching them and helping them succeed in their businesses.
…and those are just the highlights from the professional side. It worked on the personal side too! Every single thing I did in 2017, I had the word “Create” in the back of my mind and I can sincerely say during this year I created more opportunities, more value, and more content than I ever thought possible.
2018 was “Action”
Moving from “Create” to “Action” to put my ideas into reality…
2019 was “Energy”
Needed the conserve and increase my energy as was getting burnt out…
2020 was “Focus”
I was splitting time between life and business projects too much…
2021 was “Resilience”
I am pretty certain this was a term we were all embodying by default…
2022 the one word is “Abundance”
Because I have been working my butt off and now it’s time to reap the rewards. I will work on only things that bring value, in time, love and finance. Now when I need to decide the tasks for the day, I will only do those that lead to abundance.
- A walk = abundance of gratitude.
- A lunch with a friend = abundance of love.
- A project = abundance of creativity.
- A client = abundance of income.
Now when someone asks me “can you give me your time?” I will do so only if it really adds value to do so.
Try it, you have nothing to lose, and it might be the one word that changes your life, you never know. If you want to give it a shot, there are three rules to follow –
- The word must resonate for you personally. It doesn’t have to be complex or over the top but make sure it means something to you.
- Set parameters around the word. What are the situations you want to change? Where will it make a difference to you?
- Share the word with your friends and family. This is a sure-fire way to be held accountable, not slip back into old habits, and adhere to your one word.
Ready for 2022? Me too.
ABUNDANCE! Bring it on.
Follow Raj Hayer on Twitter: @RajKHayer
