I don’t know about you but setting New Year Resolutions can be setting yourself up for disappointment and a feeling of failure when you don’t stick to them.

Resolutions tend to take the form of sweeping blanket statements of intent such as I’m going to lose weight, give up alcohol for the month of January or find a new job or my soulmate. We start off all positive full of good intentions and then end up despondent when we fail to stick to them. Apparently 1 in 10 of us fail to keep them!

Why? Well they are so very vague and future focused and are not set in the present and here and now so they feel too far out of our reach.  And  mostly they come from a place of negativity or restriction – from a place of wanting something that we want and don’t currently have or stopping doing something or giving something up.

The anticipation and potential excitement that a  new year brings for new beginnings and adventures quickly turns to disillusionment when we can’t stick or even start what we had intended.

A better way is to set goals as they tend to focus the mind, make you think about what you want to achieve and effectively give you a road map for getting there especially if they are targeted and SMART (specific, measurable, relevant and timebound). If you fail to plan you plan to fail comes to mind but goals tend to be much more detailed and you need to spend some time thinking about them. I came across another idea and it really resonated with me as it is just so simple and simple is good in the overcomplicated world in which we live in today.

Choose just one word that you want your year to be all about.  Your word can be anything but it should sum up how you want to feel, what you want to achieve and what you want to remember the year for. Think of it as your theme for the year.

How do you go about choosing your one word for the year?

The word can be anything but should be a word that resonates with you.

Some questions that might help you. Ask yourself:

• What kind of person do I want to be this year? What are the characteristics of this person?
• What do I want to achieve? What kind of actions does this mean I’ll be taking? What words describe these things and how they will make me feel?

Write down words that come to mind or if you are really stuck and want some inspiration, then you can google search ‘one word for the year’. Scroll down the list and see what inspires and strikes a chord with you. Test it out on some of the scenarios that came to mind when you asked yourself the questions above.

I thought I’d share some of the words that resonated for me and that sum up my vision and focus for the year.

Bold, courage, freedom, simple, family, joy, forgiveness, acceptance, grace, gratitude, positivity, confidence, trust, faith, present

And what have I chosen?

COURAGE

There I’ve said it outloud and committed it to paper.  This year is going to be about putting into action what I’ve been planning for the last couple of years. I just need to get out there and have the COURAGE to go for it.  Only I have the power to make it happen and I’m determined to.

What about you? What’s your year going to be all about?  Put your chosen word somewhere where you can see it on a daily basis and check in when you have major decisions to make or are waivering and let it help guide you to move forwards and make this a year to remember.