I don’t actually know who created the one-word theme for the year given I did it last year and I didn’t learn it from Mike Ashcraft. Yet he has a program called “myoneword.org”. So I do want to give him credit.
Many people go into the new year setting loads of goals that end up getting scrapped within the first 3 weeks of January.
I like this idea of choosing a one-word theme for the year.
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Who can’t remember one word? If you had to recite your goals you may not be able to do that as easily, but if you have one word to remember I know you can do that. It makes being focused that much easier.
Having one theme also makes it possible to set realistic follow up goals and milestones.
My one-word theme for 2015 was FOCUS and my one-word theme for 2016 is BOLD.
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The key is to incorporate this word into every single thing that you do in your life and your business. Make it your foundation of your life and business.
Here is where it gets fun.
When you are creating mini-goals or daily to-dos to achieve you can use this word as your compass. It becomes the key factor in how you create your goals and how they evolve.
When choosing your word, you want to think about what’s the one thing you want and need to achieve the most in 2016. With this word you can get laser focused on that one big theme.
Here is a Simple way to find YOUR Word for 2016!
Ask yourself, “How do I want to show up this year?” Get quiet and see if any thoughts or words pop into your mind. Tap into your intuition and see what bubbles up to the surface for you. You can also pull out your journal and start to let the words flow from you.
Answer the following questions in your journal and see what comes up:
What didn’t you do in 2015 that you know you want to be doing? What do you want achieve? What do you want to be doing in your business and life? How do you want to feel? How do you want to show up?
Complete the sentence: I want to feel ____.
What is one feeling thing you want more than anything else?
Have you found a word yet? Try it on for size. Does the word feel good to you? Is it something you can live with the entire year? Remember, there are no wrong answers. What you pick is personal and meaningful to you. If it feels good, go with it.
Make sure you have your word before moving on.
Use Your Word everywhere. Make it part of your everyday life.
Here are some ways on using the word into your life and business.
Look up your word in the dictionary. Find out what the word means to you. You might think one word works for you and then you look it up and think, no way that isn’t for me.
Ask the following questions and dive a little deeper into what this word will mean to you for the year ahead.
What does “a life of [insert word]” look/feel like?
Write and write until you can’t write anymore. See what comes up. And try it on for size. Can this word truly encompass every part of your life?
If you can find clarity with this word, it will be that much easier to own this word in everything you do and take on in 2016. When you get nervous you can look to this word to help you get over the hump. Or if you are having trouble making a decision you can use this word to guide your decision making.
See how cool this can be?
Let’s Create Goals From Your One-Word Theme
Look at what you wrote in your journal about your one word. See if you can pull out some key phrases and turn them into short-term goals. Or if you have already written out some goals for the year, can you tweak them slightly to include your one-word theme to really turn up the volume?
Now don’t even think about tackling every single goal you have written down.
Take it one at a time. Let’s not overwhelm yourself.
Pick just one sub goal, and focus on that. Once you have reached this goal, and it has become a habit, then you can move on to the next sub goal.
For example, maybe you want your word to be “More”. And you realize you really want to be more visible. This might become a sub goal for you to become more visible for your ideal clients. You then come up with a plan to become more visible by posting 3x’s a day in your favorite Facebook groups etc. Once this becomes a habit you can move onto the next goal on your list which might be more joy. Figure out what that means to you. Maybe it’s getting up from your desk everyday at lunch time for a 30 minute walk because it brings you so much joy to do so.
Does this make sense?
Be Gentle with Yourself.
We have an entire year to own this new word. And know that you won’t always be perfect at it. I would love to think that every single day I can be “bold” but that really isn’t possible. But when I need to be, and I don’t feel like it, I know I can look to my desktop, or vision board where I have the word large and in charge to remind me and guide me back to being the BOLD version of myself once again.
Share in the comments below what your one-word is? I would love to see it.
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