For a few years now, I’ve really loved the concept of the one-word resolution for the New Year. It feels good to me, because it’s not quite as hyper-focused as some New Year’s Resolutions—though I admit, I do set some of those as well! But to me, the one-word Resolution really captures the essence of what I’m hoping to achieve, or who I’m hoping to show up as, in the coming year. There’s no end goal, nothing specific to check off to say whether or not I’ve done it. Instead, it’s just a word that I come back to regularly to remind myself how to ‘be’ in any given moment.
Some words have been more helpful than others—this is definitely a trial-and-error kind of experiment! I noticed that this past year, my 2021 choice of ‘level up’ almost never made it into my peripheral as I went about my day to day life. Arguably, I hit that in a few areas, but I never really reflected on it. It wasn’t quite the right fit. On the other hand, my initial one-word resolution in 2017—COLLECTED—really, really spoke to me all of that year (and still does!). So, it hasn’t always been perfect. But it does help me think through the kind of ‘vibes’ (for lack of a better term) I want to bring to the year.
If you’re trying to come up with one for yourself, a good spot to start may actually be with our post from last week thinking about your core values in relation to your training and racing goals. One of your values might be what you want to focus on for the year! Or it could be a feeling, like ‘calm’ or ‘focused,’ that you want to bring more of into your life in the coming year. Or it could be something that’s more overarching, something that doesn’t have a direct/obvious action associated with it (that’s what I’m trying this year!).
If you want to see my past one-word resolutions, you can check them out here:
- 2020 One Word Resolution: Flow
- My 2019 One-Word Resolution: BRAVE
- My One-Word New Year’s Resolution for 2018: COMMUNITY
- 2021 Word of the Year: Level Up
- What’s Your One-Word New Years Resolution?
So, what’s my word for this year?
SHINE.
This one actually hit me a couple of months ago and it immediately felt right. The concept behind it isn’t that I want to stand out in ‘look at me!’ way, it’s that I want to feel like everything I am doing, I’m giving it 100%, authentic ME. I’m putting my whole heart into it, leaning in, whatever you want to call it. Whether it’s a book or an article or a 100-mile race (ahem), I want to feel like I’m approaching it with this full sense of joy and commitment, shining through it.
It’s more abstract than any word I’ve chosen before, and that’s not a bad thing. It feels good to me, and in the few weeks I’ve been playing with it, I feel an energy shift when I think of it while I’m writing or running or just thinking.
How do you keep focused on your one-word resolution all year?
Put it somewhere you can see it! In our podcast with her a few months ago, Joanna Magic talked about how she has her training schedule printed and stuck on her fridge so she sees it often. The same is true for your one word. I’ve done this a few ways over the years:
- Printed it with a label maker and stuck it to my computer screen so it was always in front of me
- Made a desktop background for my computer with the word
- Gotten soap crayons (for little kids) and written it in my shower and on my bathroom mirror
- For races, I’ve actually written that word (or another motivational one, in past years) on my wrist or on a piece of tape on my top tube. You could go even fancier and get a frame sticker made that has the word on it!
You get the idea. Try to put it somewhere you’ll see it often, where it will help the most.
OK, your turn: What’s your one-word resolution for 2022?
Want more on goal setting? Check out our book, Becoming A Consummate Athlete, right here:
