It’s not too late to set a special word for 2024
I’ve been using a special word/affirmation to help me navigate through each new year for about the past 5 years and for me personally, I find them a huge, huge help when I’m making decisions about where I put my energy and where I don’t. I suppose another way to talk about this is that it helps me to be clear about my intentions for the year.
After the ‘Reclaim You’ workshop last week where I reviewed what went well in 2023 and what didn’t, I noticed some interesting connections. The big light bulb moment was that most of the stuff that didn’t go so well boiled down to my not trusting my intuition, either ignoring it or taking a very long time to address things that needed to be addressed. I also put myself in situations where I was uncomfortable just to please others.
So really for me this year has to be about knowing what brings me energy and what doesn’t and doing more of the stuff where I know that I can be free to be.
So whenever I’m asked to do anything, whether at work or in my personal life, I do a little check-in with myself….can I free to be me there??? And that’s where I start my decision-making.
Ok so now if you want to develop your own special word/affirmation for the year it is absolutely not too late.
I would encourage you to spend an hour reviewing 2023 using these prompts first. Take 5 minutes to work through each of these prompts.
List all the moments when you felt joy in 2023. I felt joy when……
List what you are most proud of from 2023. I am most proud of….
List the times you felt the most stressed. I was most stressed when….
List what you wish you had done more of in the past 12 months. I wish I had done more….
List what you wish you had done less of in 2023. I wish I had done less….
List the things you couldn’t live without. I couldn’t live without…
Lightblulb moments. Now take a a few minutes to reflect on your answers. Did you uncover anything new or surprising? Insightful? Revelations?
Now start to think about 2024 and get very intentional.
In 2024, I will be more intentional and say NO to……
9 In 2024, I will be more intentional and say YES to……
Now you can start to think about your word of the year. Or perhaps it’s a sentence, an affirmation. It doesn’t matter it’s more important that whatever you come up with is yours, your theme for the year, and sets the intention for how you want your year to flow.
Once you have picked your word or words for the year I highly recommend that you set this up as a regular affirmation sent to your phone through the Clementine app. This will help you to keep it on top of your mind.
And if you want to go a bit deeper with your intention setting and working out any specific goals for the year, check out the ‘Reboot’ book. Which is a self-guided course to help you work out how you do more of the stuff that brings you joy and ditch the stuff that makes you feel like crap.