5 Practical Ways to Actually Focus on Your Word of the Year
This year is going to be different. You chose your word of the year, so you’re going to be focused, purposeful and accomplished. Things are going to happen, y’all. You just know it.
Now what?
How the heck do you actually FOCUS on your word for the year?
Beloved, this post is all about how you can practically focus on your word of the year in your day-to-day routines – even when you’re busy. After all, you want to live intentionally with passion and purpose as God’s beloved, so let’s dig in!
- Prefer video? Enjoy this video walking through how to practically focus on your word of the year
- What does it mean to have a word of the year?
- What are the "right" words for the word of the year?
- How could a word of the year improve your life?
- How do you practically live out your word of the year (or season)?
- Want some practical help putting these ideas into action on a daily and weekly basis?
- Imperfect progress for the win: What do you do if your "word of the year" falls flat?
- Articles related to practical ways to actually focus on your word of the year
- How to get started with these 5 practical ways to focus on your word of the year?
Prefer video? Enjoy this video walking through how to practically focus on your word of the year
What does it mean to have a word of the year?
Not sure what the “word of the year” is?
Basically, you choose a word for the year to guide your growth, decision-making, and actions.
Choosing a word of the year is a simpler (yet more complex!) approach than setting New Year’s resolutions.
Ideally, throughout the coming months, you continually revisit that word to check that you’re living in alignment with that focus.
Many resources go into depth about this. Here are a couple to get you started:
By the way, you totally don’t have to focus on a word for an entire year. Perhaps during certain months or seasons (literal seasons or life seasons – like newborn days, back to school, tax season, work projects, etc.), you need to have a different focus word.
Here’s one of my experiences with a phrase or word of the year: What Happened When I Chose to Be Intentional + Pursue Peace. It was a massive game changer for me and my family!
What are the “right” words for the word of the year?
For all my type-A folks out there, there is no “right” word. You can go with whatever word you want. (Yay!)
I encourage you to go with a word that is life-giving – i.e. it empowers you to move forward healthily.
Here’s a fun word of the year generator to try out!
Don’t choose a word just because you feel like you ought to. If it makes you feel like crap, it’s not the word for you!
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You’re not sure about how to set your focus for the year? Check out 4 Personality Tips to Help You Set Your Intentions.
How could a word of the year improve your life?
In my own experience, when I chose to really lean into my phrase, words, or phrase of the year, it was a gamechanger.
Here are some quick highlights of how choosing a word of the year (or a phrase) impacted my life and that of my family:
For 2020, my husband and I chose to focus on being intentional and choosing peace.
Yup, we totally “cheated” and did two phrases. It worked for us. You do you!
A few outcomes of focusing on these two ideas resulted in:
- Determining Coffee Chats and Yoga Mats’ Focus
- Prioritizing Spiritual Pauses and Growth
- Implementing Sustainable Day-To-Day Routines
- Weekly Planning + Monthly Planning + Marriage Retreats
- Using a Realistic, Sustainable Meal-Planning and Food Inventory System
- Playing and Experimenting with My Wardrobe
- Becoming more Strategic with our Finances
- Thoughtfully Investing in Our Marriage
- Prioritizing Connecting with Others
- Setting Boundaries
- Taking Positive Proactive Action
While I can’t guarantee that you’ll have the same outcomes by focusing on your word of the year, I do believe that you can make some HUGE healthy steps forward by getting focused on what matters most to you this year.
For 2021, I chose to focus on dwelling in grace and being intentional (now a constant refrain).
I’d become uncomfortably aware of…
- How often I’d beat myself up for mistakes I’d made, overthinking, getting distracted, and struggling with not-enoughism.
- How often I assumed the worst of others, struggled to forgive and was frustrated when others didn’t see things the same way I did. (Umm… welcome to being human).
- I forgot that God’s grace covers me every single day – and that transforms everything.
All that being said, I tried focusing on three prongs of grace:
- Dwelling in what God’s grace means for me and to me
- Consciously seeking to offer grace to others
- Giving myself grace
While I definitely have more room to grow, focusing on grace was incredibly empowering and helped me lean more into God’s grace.
For 2022, I chose to focus on choosing courage.
I had a lot of big and small upcoming changes in my life that I want to face with courage:
- Moving into our long-awaited new house
- Making an effort to get to know our neighbors
- Attending church right down the road from our new house
- Little Man going to kids’ classes
- Growing Coffee Chats and Yoga Mats as a business
- … and much more. You get the idea.
For me, choosing courage was actually really motivational – even if it’s a bit scary at times
In fact, it was a touchstone to remember to move forward – even when I was nervous or afraid – with small decisions (like running ads for the first time!), arranging nerve-wracking doctors’ appointments, speaking up when something felt wrong in my body (My reward? An emergency appendectomy. Yay.), and more.
For 2023, our family is focusing on choosing joy and play.
Sometimes I get so SERIOUS and focused on the future that I don’t want to forget to play each day.
(My son is a constant reminder that play is important. I don’t want to regret not taking the time to play!)
So, I’m challenging myself to look for opportunities to incorporate more play and adventure in my faith walk, marriage, parenting, health, Coffee Chats and Yoga Mats, and more. One way to do that is simply to ask:
What sounds like fun? How could this be more fun? How can I do more of that here?
We’ll see how it goes!
How do you practically live out your word of the year (or season)?
For 2022, I focused on courage, so I’ll be using that as our word of the year example throughout the rest of this post.
In no particular order, here we go!
1. Post reminders of your word of the year around you
This is easily one of the easiest and simplest ways to practically focus on your word of the year – posting it around you. You could write it on a whiteboard; put it on sticky notes; or post it in your bedroom, bathroom, office, kitchen, as your phone background, etc.
You could choose to simply put your word everywhere or even pull empowering quotes and Scripture, too.
Basically, you’re using these little reminders as triggers for your focus word.
As lifehack.org says, “A trigger is anything that you put “in your way” to remind you to do something. The best triggers are related in some way to the behavior you want to produce.”
Example of where you could post reminders of your word of the year
- Your bathroom mirror
- Nightstand
- Phone background
- Computer background or screen saver images
- Whiteboards, bulletin boards
- Work desk
- Kitchen
- Dining room table
- By your water bottle, coffee cups, etc.
- Car dashboard
- Wallet
2. Focus on Scripture that relates to your word of the year
As Paul reminds us, it’s so important to be intentional with where we direct our thoughts (which also affects our time and energy!).
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things
Philippians 4:8
Do a quick search of Scripture that includes your focus word. Jot down the ones that most stand out to you as ones you want to revisit. (And if some of them look a little dicey – read a bit more of the passage surrounding that verse – it’s no fun being confused!)
You could then decide to memorize and focus on one verse a week, a month, a quarter… you get the idea.
Example of focusing on Scripture for the year
For instance, when I focused on courage, I looked for verses that talked about courage and bravery. My goal was to focus on one of these verses each month to remind me to choose courage.
- John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
- Proverbs 24:10 If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength
- James 2:17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
- James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
- Proverbs 29:25 Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.
- John 14:1 Don’t worry or surrender to your fear. For you’ve believed in God, now trust and believe in me also.
- 1 John 5:3-4 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
3. Strategically seek out content that encourages you to dwell on your word
While researching for this post, I found this fantastic article What We Consume Determines The Lives We Live. There’s so much GOOD in this article (check it out), but this quote, in particular, stood out…
What we choose to consume determines the direction of our lives. We know this to be true concerning food so we adjust our diet and meal plans.
Joshua Becker, What We Consume Determines The Lives We
But for some reason, we are less vigilant when it comes to the other influences we allow into our lives. It is wise for us to pause often and review the influences we are allowing into our mind and our body. Let this serve as a warning.
That being said, look for content that nudges you to live out your word of the year. You can learn from those who’ve been there or are in the trenches right now. This could come from:
- Books
- Podcasts
- Movies
- Videos (like Youtube)
- Conferences or classes
- Social media channels
- Etc.
You certainly don’t have to nonstop consume content about your word, but it helps to be strategic by creating a game plan.
For instance, how many books do you want to read about your focus word? Number of podcast episodes? You get the idea.
If you can, make a list of resources you know you want to dig into – such as the names of actual books, talks, etc. Then break it down into smaller pieces. How many books do you want to read in a quarter? A month?
Example of strategically consuming content related to your word of the year
Since I focused on courage, I decided to consume content geared toward that word with this loose game plan:
- Read at least one book a quarter this year that is related to courage (nonfiction and fiction both count!)
- Listen to one podcast episode a week that encourages me to choose courage (I listen to a lot of podcasts!)
- When watching movies, stay tuned to how courage plays a role.
- Attend one conference session this year that has a clear connection to choosing courage.
4. Incorporate your word of the year in your decision-making
Now, this is when stuff gets REAL. How do you consciously choose your word of the year as you make decisions or encounter life?
As we’ve talked about countless times on Coffee Chats and Yoga Mats, you can’t control so much of life. #bummer, right?
Stuff you know will happen + your word of the year
But… you do have an idea of some things that are most likely to come up in your life and can start thinking, “How can I choose [my word of the year] here?”
Here’s some happenings that you may know about in advance:
- Bringing a new person into your family! A child, a spouse, an in-law, whoever… that’s big stuff!
- A big transition for your child or children (For me, an obvious one is adjusting to an open bed. Yikes!!)
- Moving and/or a big house project
- Job transitions
- A big project/event
- Business changes – launching, growing, expanding, downsizing, etc.
- A personal growth project – running a marathon, learning a new skill, etc.
- … you get the idea
Start thinking about how you can start navigating those transitions proactively with your focus word as a compass.
The roles you play + your word of the year
What are the different roles you play? Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Christian
- Spouse, significant other
- Parent
- Daughter or son
- Sibling
- Friend
- Employee, entrepreneur, etc.
- Volunteer
- Neighbor
Ask yourself, “What would it look like to choose my word of the year in these roles?”
For example, if you’re also focusing on courage, in your marriage it might look like this:
- Consciously choosing to talk with your spouse about what’s going on in your head and heart – even when it’s hard
- Expanding your comfort zone by trying creative date options
- Trying to find couple friends
- … and so forth
When life surprises you + your word of the year
And… as for the rest of your year, you’re not going to know what’s going to happen.
Because you’re human.
And that’s part of the magic of being in the story right now.
The adventure is right where you are now.
By the way, Barking Up the Wrong Tree has SO MUCH great content about how to be more awesome at life. This particular post, A Navy SEAL Explains 8 Secrets To Grit And Resilience, can really help you with navigating life!
Some of it comes down to simply asking, “How can I choose [my word of the year/season] in this moment?”
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Like strengthening your muscles, developing this response takes time and practice. That’s okay. You’ll get there!
5. Celebrate your wins with you word of the year!
While it’s awesome to do-the-things, it’s also incredibly important to celebrate your wins.
From the tiny details (I actually got up 5 minutes earlier) to the big stuff (I ran a marathon!), celebrate your growth and steps forward. They matter.
Here’s just a few ideas for how you might celebrate your wins
- Journal your wins each day – 8 Self-Reflection Journal Prompts for Daily Soul Care can help you get started!
- Monthly reflection – again, just take a quick braindump of the highlights for the month
- Happy dance
- Photos
- Share the good news! Chat with your family and supporters in-person, over the phone, via text, social media – whatever floats your boat. Sharing your story may help others who need to hear it, too!
Want some practical help putting these ideas into action on a daily and weekly basis?
The Intentional Life Planning Toolkit is the perfect resource to help you move from being overwhelmed by your distractions and demands to living life on purpose.
You’ll determine what an intentional life would look like for you and learn how to leverage your God-gifted personality, so you can thrive in your life, including your faith, priorities, schedule, responsibilities, meals, relationships, adventures, and more.
The Intentional Life Planning Toolkit may be just what you’re looking for!
P.S. Coffee Chats and Yoga Mats email subscribers get a discounted price!
Imperfect progress for the win: What do you do if your “word of the year” falls flat?
If you’ve chosen a word of the year in the past, but feel like you dropped it like a hot potato midway into the year, try doing this instead.
Pat yourself on the back
Grab your favorite thought-recording tool (pen and paper, camera, laptop, recorder…).
Pretend you’re doing this on behalf of one of your favorite people – so treat them with love and grace.
Ask yourself these questions:
- What was my word or phrase for the year?
- What were some ways I consciously chose to live out this word or phrase?
- If I forgot about my focus statement, that’s okay. I’m only human! What are some ways that I lived out the word – even when I forgot about it?
- What are 1-3 (or more) things I’m proud of from the last year?
That’s it!
You might be surprised to see how often you lived out the intentions behind your word.
Articles related to practical ways to actually focus on your word of the year
- 4 Personality Tips to Help You Set Your Intentions
- What Happened When I Chose to Be Intentional + Pursue Peace
- 6 Practical Ideas to Focus on Grace
- 8 Self-Reflection Journal Prompts for Daily Soul Care
- 10 Practical, Peace-Giving Positive Proactive Action Ideas You Can Use Today!
- How taking positive proactive action can create peace
How to get started with these 5 practical ways to focus on your word of the year?
You’ve gained a bunch of practical ideas to focus on your word of the year. Now what?
Beloved, you’ve got to put them into action!
Pick 1-3 ideas from the suggested options and start integrating it into your life.
- 1. Post reminders of your word of the year around you
- 2. Focus on Scripture that relates to your word of the year
- 3. Strategically seek out content that encourages you to dwell on your word
- 4. Incorporate your word of the year in your decision-making
- 5. Celebrate your wins with you word of the year!
Grab your journal, planner, calendar – whatever you use to plan and dream – and start integrating these ideas into your life.
You can live intentionally with passion and purpose as God’s beloved. Start today.
I’m Cortney, a recovering over-achiever and God’s beloved who loves helping fellow Christian women like you embrace your God-given gifts so you have the confidence to live authentically.
I’m also a full-time mama to two sweet little boys, wife to my best friend, motivational speaker, and part-time Christian life coach. Chai lattes, strong coffee, podcasts, yoga, dance, and fairy tales nourish my soul and add sweetness to life.
Discovering the joy of embracing my God-given gifts and who He created me to be was a game-changer—a journey that brought freedom, unexpected delights, and relief from guilt. Finally, I felt free to be myself and ditch the pressure of being someone I wasn’t.
Incorporating those gifts into my day—from weekly planning to deciding on commitments, nurturing my marriage, and parenting—transformed everything. Now, I can’t imagine life without the perspective of fully embracing who God created me to be. I was missing so much without it!
