The one word challenge

Elizabeth Swanay O’Neal is a professional genealogist, writer, educator, and national genealogical speaker. Her specialties include methodology, technology, and online research resources. You can read more about Elizabeth’s family history journey here. To send Elizabeth a quick message, click here.

As December winds down and we inch closer to January, it is natural to start looking forward to the new year. There’s just something about heading into a new year that feels like a renewal. It’s as though we walk through a door and firmly shut it behind us – looking forward to what awaits us on the other side. 

While we can just passively look forward to what’s to come in 2022, we can also actively shape the new year by participating in a one word challenge and choosing a guiding word for the year.

New Year’s resolutions

Many of us spend the time leading up to the new year reflecting on what has happened in the last year. We think about the things we’ve accomplished, the things we wish had been different, and we ruminate on what we want the future to bring.  One way that we try to step into the new year with intention is by setting resolutions or goals.

And as I’ve said in the past, I’m all about setting actionable goals. Without clear goals to focus on, it can be difficult to figure out which things to prioritize.

Unfortunately, though, New Year’s resolutions are often waning.  People frequently set broad or unrealistic goals and get too overwhelmed, with most people giving up on their goals by February.

If you’ve struggled with that in the past, perhaps it’s a good time to think about New Year’s differently – with a one word challenge.

What is a one word challenge?

Essentially, a one word challenge involves choosing a specific word to guide you throughout the year as you make decisions, pursue goals, and try to become the human being you want to be. It’s part compass, part motivator, and part mirror. Choosing a guiding word can help you to:

• Focus your intentions
• Direct your attention
• Make decisions that align with your intentions
• Reject decisions that will lead you away from your goals
• Eliminate distractions that pop up in your life
• Determine the path you need to take to reach your goals
• Guide your thinking and your mindset
• Guide your actions
• Assess your situation
• Adjust your behavior

Although everyone is different (and therefore needs different things to motivate them), I believe that a word of the year might be especially helpful if you:

• Set new year resolutions every year, but struggle to stick to them after the first few weeks
• Find it difficult to make decisions in your life
• Want to make a habit of being intentional in what you do
• Want to improve your odds of achieving your goals
• Want to try something other than the usual new year resolutions

A one word challenge doesn’t have to be the only thing you set at New Year’s, of course.  If you love goal setting, you can use your word to help shape the specific goals you are planning.  Or, you can simply choose your word and let that shape your every day decisions.

For example, maybe your word of the year is “self-love”.  You might choose to simply let that word guide your daily actions, reminding yourself to take small breaks or encouraging you to go to the gym that day.  Or, as part of that word, you might set a specific goal – like going to the gym three times a week, and scheduling those sessions in your planner.

How do you choose the right word of the year?

Choosing a guiding word may be easy for some and difficult for others.  Some of you may be reading this and there’s a word already calling at your heart that you know is the right thing to focus on for 2020.  Others may be thinking this is the silliest idea they’ve ever heard of, but are still reading because maybe they’ll find some inspiration. 😉

For your one word challenge, dive into some deep reflection on what you want your life to look and feel like after a year. Think about what motivates you and gets you focused.  Think about what you’ve accomplished thus far and what you have yet to achieve. Then, start thinking of words that encapsulate the spirit of what you’re looking forward to in the new year.

Sometimes you might feel torn between a few words. Think about how each word makes you feel when you sit with it for a while. After all, you are planning to spend a lot of time over a year focusing on that word. It needs to be something that encourages, emboldens, and guides you.

When I started choosing a word of the year back in 2016, I had a 9-month-old and was really still trying to figure out how to juggle marriage, parenting, and running a business. I struggled to find the intersection between being goal-oriented and giving myself grace when I don’t achieve all the things I set out to.

I sat down and thought about the various aspects of my life: family, friends, blog, business, home, finances, fitness, and nutrition. I wrote down that…

• I wanted to be happily married with happy children.
• I wanted a blog and business that was flourishing.
• I wanted to have healthy relationships with my friends.
• I wanted to feel healthy, physically and mentally.
• I wanted my home to be a place where I felt peace and joy.
• I wanted our family’s finances to afford us a comfortable lifestyle.

Every single goal that I had in mind for my family and my life boiled down to one word: balance.  And so that was the word I choose that year.

Other words I choose in the past few years included “magic” and “intentional.”  

How to Use Your Guiding Word

Choosing a guiding word is an excellent start – but there’s more to it than that. You have to actively focus on it and implement it in your daily life. Just like with new year resolutions, you need a plan for how to execute. Here are a few ideas on things you can do to keep your word of the year top of mind:

Display your word of the year

Do you know the phrase “Out of sight out of mind”? Embrace it and fight it. Make sure that your word of the year is displayed in places you will see it regularly. Create or buy wall art that incorporates that word, or place it as the background on your phone screen.

Wear Word of the Year jewelry

There are many places online where you can order jewelry that is customized with writing.  Etsy is great, not only because there are lots of unique and affordable items to choose from, but also because I love supporting other small businesses. Choose a piece of jewelry that you can wear daily as a reminder of your intentions.

Meditate on you word of the year

Make it a practice to meditate daily and to incorporate your word of the year into that quiet time.

Practice daily journaling

Keeping a daily journal is a great idea if you want to stay focused on your goals. Make time to do it when you wake up and before you go to bed. In the morning, you can set an intention for your day that incorporates your word of the year. Then, at night, you can reflect on how you did during the day.

Set SMART goals

If you’ve done any research on setting goals, you’ve probably come across the idea of S.M.A.R.T. goals. The letters stand for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. Set SMART goals for all aspects of your life that incorporate your word of the year. This will help you to stay focused on your word of the year and use it to reach your goals. If you are new to setting SMART goals, check out my free goal-setting worksheets.

Share for accountability

Another thing you can do is to to tell people about your word of the year. Sometimes just by putting it out there that you have one, it can be enough to keep you focused because you feel like people are watching. You can share it with a close friend, post it on social media, or find an accountability buddy in a Facebook group.

Check In With Yourself Regularly

It’s also important, as with any goal, to check in regularly and assess your progress. During this check-ins, be brutally honest about whether you are making progress, stuck at a standstill, or moving backwards. Then, figure out what needs to happen from that point forward.

For example, back in 2016 as I focused on balance, I didn’t make great progress during the first few months. Then, after some deep reflection, I realized that I was trying to balance too many things. Something had to go! I made the tough (but critical) decision to close my corporate wellness business.

Conduct a monthly or quarterly check in to see how your one word challenge is going.  Make an necessary adjustments accordingly.

One Word Examples

As you can tell, choosing a word of the year is a very personal thing. Even if you choose the same word as a million other people, because you, your life, and your goals are unique, your reasons and motivations will be different. For that reason, I couldn’t possibly tell you what your word of the year should be. I can however, give you some inspiration. Below you will find more than 100 one word examples to inspire you on your journey to find your word of the year. 

• Abundance
• Accept
• Action
• Alignment
• Ambition
• Appreciate
• Authentic
• Balance
• Be
• Believe
• Big
• Bloom
• Blossom
• Bold
• Brave
• Breathe
• Build
• Calm
• Centered
• Change
• Commit
• Confidence
• Connection
• Consistency
• Courage
• Create
• Creativity
• Cultivate
• Daring
• Deliberate
• Devotion
• Discipline
• Dream
• Elevate
• Emerge
• Empower
• Endure
• Energy
• Enlighten
• Expand
• Faith
• Feel
• Flow
• Focus
• Freedom
• Friendship
• Glow
• Grace
• Gratitude
• Growth
• Harmony
• Health
• Hope
• Humble
• Humility
• Hustle
• Improve
• Inspire
• Joy
• Lead
• Less
• Listen
• Love
• Magic
• Manifest
• Me
• Mindful
• Move
• No
• Nourish
• Organize
• Passion
• Pause
• Persistence
• Possibility
• Prayer
• Present
• Progress
• Purpose
• Reflect
• Reinvent
• Relax
• Renew
• Represent
• Resilience
• Rooted
• Scale
• Seek
• Self-Care
• Self-Worth
• Service
• Shine
• Simplicity
• Simplify
• Sparkle
• Speak
• Strength
• Strive
• Teach
• Thrive
• Transform
• Transparency
• Trust
• Try
• Uplevel
• Visible
• Vision
• Wealth
• Whole
• Wisdom
• Wonder
• Work
• Yes

I hope that this has helped you gain some clarity about what the one word challenge is and how choosing a guiding word can help you stay focused in the year ahead! Now it’s time to go ahead and choose your word of the year. Let me know what you choose in the comments below!

Share:  What word of the year did you choose for your one word challenge?

Have you ever heard of the one word challenge?

Learn how choosing one word can help focus all of your goals for an entire year!

What is the One Word Challenge?

The one word challenge was originally created by Jon Gordon, Dan Britton, and Jimmy Page; the authors of One Word that Will Change Your Life.

Why choose a word of the year?

The idea behind one word is “to overcome distractions and bring more focus, purpose, commitment and success” in the coming year.

Instead of creating resolutions and goals, choose one word that will be your guiding force for the year.

My One Word Examples

I can’t remember where I initially learned about the One Word concept, but it is something I have adopted into my life for at least the past 7 years.

Each year my word changes and sets the tone for all of my goals and intentions for the year. Sometimes I choose the word and other times, the word chooses me.

Years ago, my spouse was going through a particularly difficult time. I wanted to shake him and tell him to get it together but I knew that wouldn’t work.

So at the beginning of that new year, I chose the word COMPASSION.

It guided me through the year when times were tough and he was whirling through a personal crisis.

There were days when I wanted to lash out, yell, and even walk away.

But my helpful word COMPASSION got me and my family through it.

I even bought a Circle of Compassion necklace that I wore all year long. It helped remind me that having compassion would help him and guide me to make the right decisions for my family along the way.

Funny thing is, it turned out to be helpful with my parents, too.

My mom was dying of breast cancer and my dad was struggling seeing his wife of nearly 50 years suffering. I cared for them through her final weeks and COMPASSION gave me the guidance I needed to stay the course and be strong for both of them.

I had more pain that year than I’d had my entire life. But my word COMPASSION gave me strength I never knew I had.

It was a long and emotionally draining year but now, I’m so thankful I chose that word.

Another year, I made the difficult decision to close my online store.

This choice came after 20 years of having a brick-and-mortar and online store. I didn’t know what the next chapter was going to be for me or my business but I knew it was time to make a change.

So I chose the word FORWARD to help guide me. The word did not let me down!

It was the beacon I needed with every step I took. It forced me to pivot and look at my business with fresh eyes.

Last year the word FOCUS was my driver. I took a blog that was receiving 6k visitors per month to more than 300k visitors. FOCUS helped me triple my YouTube followers. FOCUS helped me create online courses.

It was all because I FOCUSED on only doing the things that would drive people to my website (not this one) and add value to their lives.

2021 is no different. I used my best tips for choosing a word (see below) and the word I’ve chosen this year is GROW.

I can’t wait to see what the year holds with this word and how I will incorporate it into my life.

What will your word be? I’ve got lots of One Word ideas for you later in this post!

How do you choose One Word of the year?

Choosing One Word is a very personal thing. No one can tell you what your One Word will be because we all have different challenges and goals we need to overcome.

In addition, your One Word will change year after year as you grow and change.

Best tips for choosing and using your One Word

1. Think of where you are now and where you want to be. What are your goals? What do you want to focus on? Write those ideas down. You may begin to see a few words emerge from this exercise.

2. Answer these questions. What are words that inspire you? What words help guide you to be the best version of yourself? What is lacking in your life?

3. Make a list. You can choose your own words or pick some from the One Word list below.

4. Review your list. Narrow down to one word that will guide your year.

5. Try out your One Word. Write it in the front of your bullet journal or planner. Hang it over your desk. Put it on a sticky note and hang it on your computer.

6. Journal about your One Word and how you can use it in various areas of your life including health, wealth, love, fitness, family, career, spiritual, personal development, and home.

7. Reflect. After one month, take a moment to think about your One Word and how it’s working for you. Is it aligned with your goals? If not, choose another word from your list. Don’t think you failed at the One Word challenge. It just wasn’t the right fit for you at the moment. Just pick another word and make it your focus.

236 One Word Ideas

Are you having trouble thinking of One Word ideas? That’s okay! I’ve got 236 interesting One Word ideas for you to choose from or perhaps they will inspire you to choose a word not on this list.

There is a FREE PDF printable of this list at the end of the post.

Pro Tip: You can also use these words as journal prompts. Print out the list and tuck it in the back of your journal so you never run out of writing ideas.

abundance

absorb

action

adept

add

advance

adventure

affect

align

alive

allow

anchor

appreciate

authentic

awareness

awe

balance

be

beautiful

become

begin

believe

belong

better

best

big

bliss

bloom

bold

boss

boundaries

brave

breathe

build

calm

capable

care

celebrate

centered

challenge

change

cherish

clarity

cleanse

clear

comfort

commit

compassion

complete

confidence

connect

conquer

consistent

contemplate

courage

create

cultivate

declutter

dedicate

deliberate

design

determination

devote

direction

dream

driven

ease

elevate

emerge

empower

encourage

energy

enlighten

enough

enthusiasm

evolve

excite

exhale

expand

explore

faith

family

fearless

fierce

finish

flourish

flow

focus

forgive

forward

freedom

fun

future

generous

gentle

give

glow

go

goals

grace

gratitude

grounded

grow

habit

harmony

happiness

heal

healing

healthy

hero

hope

humble

hustle

ignite

imagine

immerse

improve

increase

influence

innovate

inspire

intention

journey

joy

kindness

laugh

lead

learn

less

light

lighten

listen

live

love

magical

manifest

meditate

mindful

mission

moment

momentum

money

more

move

movement

now

nature

nurture

opportunity

organize

passion

patience

pause

peace

persevere

persist

positive

possible

power

practice

pray

present

progress

prosper

purpose

question

quiet

receive

reclaim

reflect

relax

release

reliable

renew

renewal

reset

resolve

respect

rest

rise

sacrifice

satisfy

seek

self-care

self-love

serenity

serve

share

shift

shine

simplify

slow

smile

soar

solve

soul

spark

sparkle

spirit

steady

still

streamline

strength

strive

strong

success

support

surrender

survive

teach

think

transcend

transform

thrive

trust

truth

try

unique

unleash

unlimited

understand

unstoppable

upwards

value

vibrant

vitality

wander

wealth

whole

why

win

wish

wonder

work

worthy

engAGE Your Brain
By Dr. Krystal Culler, DBH, M.A.

Work Out Your Brain with The Focus-Word Challenge
It is the time of the year when many people set goals, intentions and aspirations for the New Year. Last year, we explored ways to make your brain fitness goals S.M.A.R.T.er! (Revisit the blog here.) This year, let’s focus on one word. Yes, one simple word. That’s it.

History of Words
Words are our basic unit of language in both the written and spoken form. On average, we speak about 7,000 words (or more) every day! And it is estimated that we speak over 860.3 million words in our lifetime (calculated in 1984 by a British writer, Gyles Brandreth and still widely utilized today). Let’s put this number in perspective. The average person speaks about 14.5x the length of the entire 20-volume Oxford Dictionary to reach 860.3 million words (or more). That is a lot of words! 

The Impact of Words
We can make our words count. Our words are powerful. Our words can evoke emotions. Our words and choice of words can influence our health- physical, mental, emotional, social, and more. Ultimately, our words go beyond us and leave an imprint on the world. Our words matter.

Focus
We can utilize one simple word to help guide our actions, goals, aspirations and more. By prioritizing just one simple focus word for the year ahead, we can intentionally focus our decision-making, choices and more. Let’s find our focus word for 2023.

Finding Your Word
While reading this, a word may rapidly pop into your mind as your focus word for the upcoming year. On the other hand, you may be sitting there, wondering how to find a word that will resonate with you now and serve as a guide in the year ahead. 

1. Reflect. You may need to spend some time reflecting on your vision for the New Year and your current goals. This may take a few days of brief reflection. (There are some books, programs and resources to help identify your word of the year, should this be something you would want to explore more in-depth.)
2. Write it down. To get started, it may be easier to identify one word as your guidepost for the entire year. Some may opt to have a single word guide various aspects of their well-being such as “abundance” for financial health or “growth” for their intellectual/cognitive health. You may utilize a focus word that can support your personal growth and wellness path. Make a list and write down the words that come to you.
3. Review. Review your list and intentionally select your word that will serve as your theme for the year. The word may also be what you want to invite into your life in the year ahead.

It is important to not overthink using one focus word for the year. Perhaps there is a short saying that keeps coming to mind. Follow the above steps to focus on one word rather than the saying. An example of this might be, “Keep on moving on” as the phrase that keeps resurfacing and your focus word might be “energy” or “grounded” as you brainstorm what the saying means to you. Aim to keep it simple; just one word. (Check out this list for some inspiration.)

We all know that life can get busy. There is power in simplicity that can help us re-direct our focus and energy to achieve our goals. Take time to find your one word for 2023 and see how this exercise may help support your optimal brain health and wellness.

Focus Word Experience
I have utilized the one-word challenge over the past few years to intentionally guide my time and energy for work, projects, volunteer activities, opportunities and more that would arise throughout the year. Personally, I have found it easier to anchor one word as my main area of focus rather than going back to my list of goals (which also boasts many health benefits, too). Plus, I can easily remember my focus word during times of stress to help keep me grounded and support my decision-making. 

In 2019, my word was “grace” and my word for 2022 was “flourish.”  I’ve set my focus word for 2023 as “stability.” I have found that when I take short periods of time to reflect on life and where I would like to see things going that some words keep rising to the top of my mind and written list.

Focus Word = Clear Goal
It is much easier to remember one word, especially one word that we personally select and provide meaning to for the New Year. We can revisit this focus word exercise on an annual basis. Share your focus word in the comments section below. It is always wonderful to learn how others are being intentional with their time, talent and energy for a happier, healthier life. 

In brain health & wellness,
Krystal

“Your words have power. Speak words that are kind, loving, positive, uplifting, encouraging, and life-giving.” -Unknown

Have you ever heard of the One Word Challenge? Several years ago, pre-pandemic years, picking one word for your year was all the rage. I’m sure it’s still out there floating around for some, but I haven’t heard as much about it as I did when the idea was newer. What some suggested you do, instead of listing several New Year’s resolutions or even one New Year’s resolution was to pick a word that you could make a focal point for your year.

I did a post about this back in 2019. One Word Resolutions. In that post I considered a number of words to resolve to remember in the year to come. I ended up thinking the word listen might be a good word for the year. I have to admit I don’t remember if I listened better in 2019 or not. I’d like to think so, but sometimes we forget to remember the goals we set.

Why revisit the idea, you’re probably thinking, if it isn’t going to stick? I can hope that it did stick for a little while and perhaps stayed with me even after I no longer remembered to remind myself to listen.

But one missed goal doesn’t mean you can never take another shot. My love of basketball is coming into play there. 🙂 Besides, I like words. You might even say I love words. I like word games. I like spreading words across a monitor screen to try to tell a story. I like hunting for the right words and slashing out the wrong words when I’m writing. I like speaking words. I like listening to words.

You know, I’m beginning to wonder if my one word should be word. No, I think I can come up with a better word. So what? Some that would surely work are joy and love and hope, but if I’m going to take this one word challenge again, I want to come up with a word that does just that. Challenges. Not that joy and love and hope can’t present challenges in a person’s every day life.

Hmm. I just scribbled some words down in my notebook without taking time to think too much about the words that popped into my head. The first to come to mind was trust. Then experience followed on its heels. Strangely enough, survive was my next word. I think I’m remembering 2020. Improve would certainly be something that I could do. Then I took a deep breath and thought relax.

Next I looked at the word art I posted up top. Lots of great words in it. Seek. Persevere. A writer needs both of them. I need to seek ideas for the new story I’m writing and I need to persevere to go from that opening sentence to the end. I love opening sentences. Maybe I’ll share the opening sentence for my upcoming book on my next post. Or the first sentence for the book I’m writing now. That one could very well change.

Back to my one word challenge. Maybe I should pick focus so I wouldn’t be chasing down rabbit trails. Another word in the mix of words in the picture is wonder. I like that one. Perhaps I should concentrate on the wonder of life, the wonder of story, the wonder of friendship, the wonder of God’s love, the wonder of nature. So tonight I choose wonder. It may not stick, and who says we have to have only one word for a year. Why not one word a week or maybe even a day according to our circumstances? I guess I can wonder about that, can’t I?

Have you ever taken the One Word Challenge and chosen one word to focus on to make your life better? If so, are you willing to share your word? What word catches your interest and inspires you for 2023?