There are many rituals at the beginning of a new year, many of which call for reflection on the past year and setting goals for the year ahead. Without attempting to assign a ranking value to any of these practices, there is one activity that can be covered relatively fast and without time-consuming prerequisites such as collecting pictures or other memorabilia. This is the practice of choosing one word for the new year - a word engineered to capture and manifest an intent for the next 365 days. Granted, it’s sometimes hard to settle on one word solely. But it can be fun and somewhat mystical to think of and select words, that akin to seeds planted in the soil, would emerge and blossom throughout the year, bringing a strong intent or desire into reality. 

The one-word ritual is, in its essence, about getting honest about what we might need or desire the most and making that one word our North Star and anchor in the new year. It is a practice that can be applied in both personal and professional settings, as it relates to taking stock of past and current results and setting an intention for higher aspirations and improved outcomes.

The following tips are to guide you through an impactful one-word ritual:

• Fewer vs more: Think about selecting a single word – one which might represent your most intense desire, or which might signal an interest, behavior or necessity across multiple areas of life. For instance, the word “love” could refer to the highest aspiration of an individual – to fall in love with someone – or could be a behavior to engage in – e.g. to respond in love- across all romantic or non-romantic interactions. While it could be tempting to select multiple words in line with our many possible ambitions, at the end, we all have limited time, energy and resources to manage and prioritize. “The 12-week Year” is a book about how to be successful at meeting goals by splitting the year into four quarters with goals, strategy and tactics that are defined, implemented and measured within a 12-week timeframe. If you can’t limit yourself to one word per year, you can consider selecting one word per quarter, add a new word every quarter or limit yourself to two words representing your top aspirations.
• Personal vs popular: Think about choosing a word that is the most meaningful to you at this time in life. While some words could be popular choices, your word needs to be “yours” – for it to become the catalyst for growth and transformation. A final word choice might require a few sessions of reflection, visualization and getting in touch with your inner self – either at a personal or professional level. For instance, as a leader, you can assess what you need to better focus on or focus your teams on for bigger results and the one word could symbolize the path to get there e.g. simplification. At a personal level, the selected word is to position ourselves to build momentum in a specific direction, hence its power. It’s like opening the door of the Universe to the meaning of this word into our lives with both expected and unexpected learnings and developments to ensue. To give you an example, I choose the word “radical” in a prior year, and that was from the perspectives of an aspiring leader, with a goal to be highly effective in my work and reach a new professional milestone. Fast forward to the end of that year, I experienced several radical shifts in my personal life … beyond the meaning I initially assigned to the selected word. We might argue that, irrespective of any spiritual or religious beliefs, our wisdom -via the choice of a word – meets and creates space for the Universe’s wisdom to manifest the one word into our lives in ways that are not all known to us.
• Positive vs negative: Think about a word that energizes, motivates or reminds you of your highest aspirations or needs. The one-word should be a reminder of your North Star and an anchor in stormy times. For instance, coming back to the word “love”, love can become the mantra word when you don’t feel you can respond in love, or the love you feel for your family or friends can be the anchor to sustain you when in difficult times. Thinking of the one-word in this framework also acknowledges the realities of life with dualities of emotions and events. For instance, joy, a popular choice of a word, exists and is amplified by moments of sadness. The one-word is not to negate any one side of our experiences or emotions but to carry us through, both to allow us to embrace the good and positive, but also to remind us to remain or grow strong in the face of adversity.

The one-word ritual can be a powerful one for two main reasons. First, it exercises our power of reflection and choice – one word, one intention - which at the end is life-giving as highlighted by James Hollis in his book “Living An Examined Life”: “Our life begins twice: the day we are born and the day we accept the radical existential fact that our life, for all its delimiting factors, is essentially ours to choose. And the moment when we open to that invitation and step into that accountability, we take on the power of choice.” Second, it frames our inner talk which is the beginning of all changes – what we say to ourselves shapes our behavior. Our words, which start with our thoughts, are the inputs that shape our outputs, as Henry Ford puts it: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right“. Likewise, in a professional setting, the one-word is a reminder of a set intention to bring in better results – which can shape our leadership behavior in both good and tough times, our communications and, at the end, the bigger impact we and our teams can make.

May this article be an invitation to choose your word for 2024, and with it, a beacon of wisdom to shine through your experiences throughout the new year.