Are you tired of making New Year’s Resolutions that you’ve forgotten about or given up on by mid-February if not sooner?

Have you ever heard of the ONE WORD movement? I started my One Word resolves about five or six years ago. I have chosen words such as Courage, Clarity, Focus, Vision, Trust and Flexibility.

And today, I want to do something a little different on the show. I want to share this concept with you and teach you how to adopt it for your own. I will also be sharing stories from a few other people I have met who wanted to share what choosing a ONE WORD has done for them over the years.

I am going to let you in on an often-ignored or unacknowledged truth: Change is possible, but it requires not only intention but the right kind of focus. So forget new gym memberships you won’t use or the newest extreme fad diets, expensive planners and going into debt buying new Rubbermaid to organize the basement—lets forget entirely about Resolutions. Yes, they are a way to try to focus, but sometimes in a overly simplified way and almost always resolutions are and more importantly, not at all on the root causes or philosophies and character traits that lead us in the directions we go. We don’t want to be focused on what we DON’T want but rather on what we do want and what will get us there. Resolutions to lose 20 pounds for example are often based on the type of person we’re tired of being rather than who we want to become. And when you “break your resolve” then what? You quit, right? There’s no room for the process of growth in a New Years Resolution. 

On the other hand, One Words are centered on our hope for the year ahead and who we want to become or what we want to achieve, maybe who we believe God wants us to be, and the transformative process of getting there.

We need to get at the heart of what needs to be revolutionized deep down within us to inform and give energy to these things we want to see becomes realities in our lives. So its no longer “OK, I have to lose 20 pounds or 40 pounds and I am gonna go to the gym 4 times a week until I do.” Now, it’s “What is it that is missing in my life that leads me to make poor food choices or to choose to be sedentary rather than active?” Journaling about the hearts of matters such as this might lead you to a One Word like discipline or health when you realize the issue at the heart of is a lack of discipline or when you think about wanting to make your health a priority so you can enjoy your grandchildren more and for longer. At the heart of the matter, a One Word is like “your why.” Have you ever heard about the importance of defining your why as part of mapping out success in any area of your life? 

This is why I choose just one word to be my focus for the next twelve months, to help me stay tuned into the “fuel” (the why) that I need for making positive changes that last longer than February.

Let’s start with one story from my treasure trove of One Words. It was the year 2020. I had chosen FOCUS because there was an overall sense that I had been feeling for a long time of doing too many things and feeling like I couldn’t focus, plus it was 20/20… get it? Focus/ 20/20 vision? 

Ok, so anyway, I started with journaling. If you know me at all, you know this is common practice for me with a lot of things. Work it out on the page. The more I wrote, the more I explored what I wanted to envision for the coming year, and the easier it was to pare it down to a single word.

BRAINSTORM

Another method that can be helpful for selecting your One Word is to just start writing possible words. Your One Word is most likely going to be a NOUN or a VERB. Mini grammar lesson: a noun is a subject, a thing, a state or a quality. A verb is an action word, a function, a mood even. 

So, now just literally brainstorm. Set a timer for one minute and

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