It’s time to start thinking about your motivational word or short phrase of the year for 2023.
You can savor this little happiness hack along with your Thanksgiving feast.
It provides a delicious respite for the mind and food for the soul. A no sugar, no flour treat!
Think of your word as the beacon in your lighthouse guiding you home.
No matter how rough the seas or stormy the weather in your life, it will remind you of your intentions and sharpen your focus on what’s good..
Whenever you’re overthinking or over-reacting, your special word will cut through all the noise and help you make decisions with greater confidence and clarity.
It can help you remember what’s important whenever you find yourself in a quandary.
It can help you interrupt any tendencies you might have to lean into indulgent emotions like overwhelm, indecision, worry and procrastination.
With all its many nuances and shades of meaning, it will shine a steady and reliable beam along your path to guide you back to yourself and your core desires.
Let’s tap into a few moments of gratitude and reflection to ground us as we contemplate the coming year.
For those of us who are gathering with family and friends to celebrate the holidays, let your love and gratitude for all that is good in your life overflow your cup.
For a little extra boost, you can revisit this prior gratitude post to ground yourself in some easy gratitude practices.
And as you set your sights on 2023, relieve the pressure even more by tapping into your imagination now. Choose a meaningful word or phrase that inspires and delights you.
Find language that generates feelings of energy, motivation, optimism, intention and focus for all you wish to experience and accomplish in the year ahead.
Follow these easy steps to choose your word or phrase for 2023.
Note: In the rest of this post, I will just use the single word “word” as a stand in for “word or phrase,” but, just as a reminder, either one is always an option. You get to decide.
Step 1: Set an intention that you will find your word.
- Start thinking thoughts that generate feelings of excitement and curiosity about the quest to find your word.
- Decide in advance that finding your word will be a fun adventure.
- Ask yourself how you want to feel on a more frequent basis or the way you would like to approach your choices and decisions in the coming year.
- Ask your brain to come up with multiple options.
- Allow your brain time to percolate on the assignment.
- Make a list of the words that feel like options, five, ten, twenty. There’s no right number to consider.
Step 2: Explore your options.
- Reflect on the words that you list as your top contenders.
- Think about the many ways the word could give deeper meaning and guidance when applied to your relationship with yourself, your family and friends, and your professional life.
- Try each option on for size. Marinate in the feelings each generates.
- Is there a word you keep coming back to? Decide which word continues to generate the most resonance.
- If you think it would be helpful, check in with someone whose opinions you value.
Step 3: Choose your word.
- When one word seems to be surfacing again and again, drawing in you, generating excitement, you’ve got a winner.
- Once you’ve chosen your word, commit to it.
- Don’t worry about making the wrong choice. There’s no such thing.
Step 4: Embrace your word.
- Let your word heighten your awareness of how you are approaching your life.
- Meditate on it. Consider how it can impact your decision-making process.
- Enjoy seeing how your word can apply to various aspects of your life throughout the year.
- Celebrate your word as that bright beacon in your lighthouse, always there, ever ready and waiting to guide you home.
And my 2023 winner is…
Drum roll please!
It was easy. This phrase was uppermost in my mind these lat few months, just waiting for this moment: GRAND ADVENTURE.
For the past year we have been building our dream house near the beach in Delaware. We’ve long imagined creating a family gathering home to welcome our 5 children, their partners and grands. Fun and relaxation in a beautiful environment that offers endless opportunities to bask in the beauty of nature is just how we imagined enjoying this next chapter of our lives.
As anyone knows who’s built a new home, moved to a new state, or has to let go of previously comfortable routines and habits, cultivating an adventurous spirit is essential to navigating the experience. Allowing the inevitable adjustments, disappointments, compromises and, yes, even losses all framed as part of the grand adventure brings me a sense of comfort and reassurance.
Here are some inspirational quotes that amplify my desire to embrace the spirit of the GRAND ADVENTURE.
If any of these quotes inspire you too, they’re yours for the taking. Adopt any of them at appeal to you.
“The best view comes after the hardest climb.” – Anonymous
“Adventure isn’t hanging off a rope on the side of a mountain. Adventure is an attitude we must apply to the day to day obstacles of life.” – John Amat
“Until you step into the unknown, you don’t know what you’re made of.” – Roy T. Bennett
“The goal is to die with memories, not dreams.” – Anonymous
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw
“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller
“Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” – T.S. Eliot
“Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure.” – Bob Bitchin
“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber
“Go where you feel most alive.” – Unknown
What will be your word for 2023?
What are some thoughts you’d like to think that support your chosen word?
List 5 thoughts that add depth and meaning to your word.
These thoughts should have the power to refocus you and provide clarity as to how your word is relevant in your life.
These thoughts should make your word come alive and motivate you, especially to face or do the hard things that are certain to come along.
All the quotes I’ve included above are examples of the thoughts I choose to think about our GRAND ADVENTURE.
Of course, you need more than a word of the year to make the big changes you really want.
That’s where coaching comes in.
I’m here to help you transform those big dreams, wishes and desires into your new reality. Whatever is rising as a top priority for you in this current chapter of your life, let’s get to work.
It’s a beautiful feeling to start the New Year fresh with an intentional strategy to make 2023 your best year ever.
And, please believe me, it’s never too late and you’re never too old to go after it ALL!
Whatever you’re longing to create in 2023, I can help you navigate all the challenges and overcome the obstacles.
Sign up for your 45 minute FREE Strategy Call right here.
