How to choose a word of the year, and actually use it.
By the second week of January, most resolution lists have gone quietly into a drawer. A list of eight improvements is really a list of eight ways to fall short. One word works differently, and this note shows you how to choose a word of the year from the year you actually had, test it, and keep it in view well past February.
A word holds a direction instead of a target. "Steady" cannot be failed on a Wednesday. It can only be returned to.
A resolution is a verdict. A word is a direction.
How to choose a word of the year from the year you actually had.
The most common mistake is choosing a word for the woman you wish you were. She is organized, rested, fearless and always on time, and a word chosen for her will feel like a reprimand by March. Choose for the woman who lived this year instead.
Give yourself one evening, not five minutes between other things. Answer these by hand, and do not edit them for anyone.
BEFORE YOU CHOOSE · ONE EVENING
- When did you feel most like yourself this year, and what were you doing?
- What drained you more than it should have?
- What did you keep postponing, and what was really in the way?
- What do you want more of next year, in one sentence? Less of?
- If next December you felt proud of how you lived, not what you achieved, what would have been different?
Read your answers back and circle any word that shows up twice, or any word that makes you exhale a little. That is often where your word is hiding. For a fuller set of prompts, start with these reflection questions for the year you actually had.
If you would like a starting point, try a free word of the year quiz, seven questions, two minutes. It will not decide for you, but it hands you a word to sit with, and sometimes the fastest way to find the right word is to argue with the wrong one.
Word of the year ideas, grouped by what the year needs.
A list of word ideas is only useful if it is sorted by need. Start with the row that sounds like relief, not the one that sounds impressive.
WORD IDEAS · BY WHAT THE YEAR NEEDS
| If your year needs | Words to consider | Choose from here if |
|---|---|---|
| Rest | slow, enough, soften, ease, still | You have been tired for longer than a busy season explains. |
| Courage | brave, begin, ask, voice, try | There is something you keep putting off because it frightens you. |
| Focus | clear, less, choose, finish, root | Your attention is spread across too many good things. |
| Joy | play, delight, savor, light, yes | The year has been all responsibility and very little delight. |
| Steadiness | steady, ground, tend, anchor, home | Last year shook things loose and you want solid footing. |
| Coming back to yourself | return, notice, true, own, become | Somewhere along the way you lost track of what you want. |
Do not borrow a word because it sounds good on someone else's feed. A plain word you will use is worth more than a beautiful one you will forget by spring.
How do you know you have the right word?
Narrow it to two or three candidates and live with them for a few days. Say each one out loud. Write it at the top of a page and notice how it sits.
A good word passes three small tests. It feels like permission rather than pressure. It reaches more than one part of your life, so it shows up at work, at home and in how you treat yourself. And you could act on it in a single afternoon. "Ease" passes. So does "ask." "Perfect" does not, and neither does any word that quietly means try harder.
If a word makes your shoulders rise, set it aside. If it makes them drop, pay attention.
Give your word four jobs for the year.
Most words fade because they live on one page from January and never come out again. Give yours real work.
Put it where you will see it. The inside of a cabinet door, a card tucked into the bathroom mirror, your phone's lock screen. Seeing it on an ordinary morning matters more than seeing it on a meaningful one.
Check decisions against it. When a request comes in, ask whether it moves you toward your word or away from it. If your word is "less," a new commitment has to earn its place. If your word is "brave," the invitation that scares you deserves a second look.
Give it a Sunday moment. As you look at the week ahead, ask what your word would look like in these seven days, in one small and specific way. If you want a place built for that, The Year of You, an undated planner with a page for Her Word at the front, keeps it in view every time you open a new week.
Revisit it each season. Four times a year, ask how it has shown up. "Rest" in January might mean sleeping in on Saturday. By summer it might mean saying no without a paragraph of explanation. That is not drift. That is the word doing its work.
What if your word stops fitting?
Sometimes a year changes shape halfway through: a move, a loss, a new role, a child leaving home. You are allowed to change your word. It is a tool, not a vow. Write down what the old word gave you so it is not lost, then choose the one this new season is asking for.
And if you are reading this in autumn, already turning over a word for 2027, there is no reason to wait for January. A word can start working the day you choose it.
ONE THING FOR THIS WEEK
Set aside one evening. Answer the five questions above by hand, circle the words that repeat, and write your top three candidates on a card. Carry the card with you for a week before you choose.
One word is enough to stand on.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Cari Hawthorne is the founder of Discover HER Collection and the creator of The Year of You, an undated planner for the woman who is ready to come first in her own life.