Replace Resolutions With Clarity – What Is Your Focus Word for 2024?

During the December holidays, I took my kids to a water park that had a nine-story high slide.

Of course, all the kids were fearless and lined up to do it, and now it was my turn, and I froze.

The woman managing the ride told me, 'Come on, mommy, go and do it; what are you scared of?'. I looked down at the drop, could physically feel the reaction in my body and made my way swiftly back down the stairs to meet the kids at the bottom.

On reflection, it made no logical sense not to have done it. It was safe. I trusted my kids to do it; nothing could have gone wrong. The only thing that stopped me was the story in my head, and I let the fear win.

I can't change my decision, but I can take the lesson that you always have a choice: stand up to your fear or let it win.

To ensure I implement my lesson, I have made my focus word for 2024, Brave.

It means it's the year to take brave rather than safe action. By brave, I don't mean I'm going to start jumping out of planes or doing careless things to prove how courageous I can be.

When it comes to decisions, I am applying them through the filter of making the braver choice over the safer choice. The braver choice will always be the more uncomfortable and uncertain choice, but this is where true growth lies.

Some other focus words that have come up in conversations with colleagues and clients include depth and spacious.

Depth: this person is a serial workshop and book inhaler and constantly builds skills but at a superficial level. This year, she is committing to going deeper into mastery and building on her foundation.

As author Seth Godin says:

"There's nothing wrong with being a wandering generality instead of a meaningful specific, but don't expect to make the change you seek to make if that's what you do." 

Spacious: this friend ended the year in near burnout. Her word for 2024 is spacious – to remind her to make time for self-care, to allow herself the space to pause, and most importantly, to self-remember.

How to create your word.

Your focus word must represent what you want more of, what you want to focus on, or what you hope to create for yourself.

Here are guiding questions to help you generate clarity on what you want for this year:

·      What would you see in six months if things were going exactly how you wanted?

·         Is there a better way?

·         Is there a kinder way?

·         Who am I at my best?

· How would your life look if your main obstacle didn't exist?

·      If you could change just ONE thing right now, what would it be?

· What's missing in your life?

·      What would you like more of in your life?

·      What would you like less of?

·      If you were already living in your ideal world – how would you show up to your next goal?

·      What is something essential that you are underinvesting in?

·      How do you want to feel at the end of each day? Joy, serenity, acceptance, gratitude?

Your word should create a charge for you, leaving you with a satisfied smile and a gentle contentment that this is the word you need right now.

It may change in six months, and that's OK; the point is to have a filter to make better decisions now.

What about more than one word?

You may have a word for work and one for your personal life.

If you are a perfectionist, don't stress about choosing the one perfect word because what if it's the wrong one?

You may decide you want to be brave at work, but in your personal life, you need more patience.

Here are some more suggestions:

Intention is everything.

Now that you know where to direct your focus, you must set your intention and remind yourself daily.

You can set an alarm to go off randomly in the morning and afternoon with your focus word as a label—for example, bold, confident, patient, kind, etc.

Then ask yourself – have I demonstrated kindness this morning, and if not, what can you do to live into this for the rest of the day or even the next five minutes?

You can set an alarm before a big meeting or conversation with someone to set your intention beforehand. Who do you want to be in this conversation? When your default response gets triggered, pause and remind yourself of your focus word.

You can even create a screen saver with your focus word on your phone or laptop, so it's a constant visual reminder until your word becomes a habit.

Final Thoughts.

Life comes down to choice management.

No one is perfect, and we won't get it right all the time, but if we can change the filter of our decisions, we can begin to make better choices.

If you don't make a great choice now, then make sure the next one aligns with your focus word rather than ditch the whole day and figure you'll try again tomorrow.

Your focus word is an anchor to ground you back into the present so you can make decisions by design rather than default.

If you're pushing yourself to do an extra hour at night, reminding yourself of the word spacious or kind is the trigger you need to make the right choice despite it feeling uncomfortable at first.

Here's to better choices in 2024,

Warm wishes

Lori