re•solve
noun
1. Firm determination to do something.

I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions. They always seem disingenuous to me. Here’s this thing that I know I should be doing and I’m promising myself to start doing it on a specific date, because I know I should. The question is, what’s changed that will cause me to start doing this thing that I have resisted doing in the past?

Some years ago, I discovered an alternative that I like a lot better: My 3 Words for the New Year. The idea comes from Chris Brogan, who describes it this way:

What is the My 3 Words Process?

Every year, at the beginning of the year, choose 3 words that have personal meaning to you that you will use as guideposts for your chosen path forward in the coming year. Make the words such that they influence your choice of actions, encourage you to decide in favor of your goals, and guide you towards lasting results that you want to experience throughout the year.

Write these words down. Post them everywhere. Schedule them to pop up in your calendar. And use these words as part of your decision-making process every day.

How do you Choose Your Words?

The words that you select for My 3 Words are meant to serve as lighthouses to guide you through foggy moments. To that end, it’s important to pick words that have enough meaning that you’ll snap your perspective into alignment with them and build out your days, weeks, months, and year accordingly.

What does that look like?

Let’s say you want to lose 30 pounds in 2018. Maybe one of your words is “green.” It reminds you to fill half your plate with nutritious green vegetables and fresh fruits at every meal, and to make your snacks more healthy, as well.

Maybe you need to focus on your creative projects, like that podcast you’ve been threatening to launch. The word “focus” isn’t bad, but maybe the word “voice” is better, as in “people will benefit from hearing your voice.”

No matter which words you select, make sure they have personal meaning to you that can guide your choices of how you spend your time and which efforts you focus on.

I’ll publish my words for 2019 on the 1st on the Webdancers site. You can see my past year’s words here and here.

Your Turn

If you feel inspired to pick three words of your own that you’d like to share, please click reply and let me know about them.

Until next year.