Welcoming 2024 / New Year
My Own Word of the Year (MOWOTY)
A handy guide for the next 365 days
Goals, intentions, values, projects, mantras… it’s that time of year when people around the world resolve to make changes, hoping the year ahead is better than the last one. Or perhaps they avoid resolutions at all cost. You’ve likely read or heard adamant opinions that today, January 1, is just another day that follows December 31. Others insist today is a turning of the page, a fresh start, and a new beginning.
My opinion? Both groups are right. The day is what you make of it and I’m simply the type to embrace chances to be intentional, whether on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis.
Personally, I let go of the notion of strict resolutions many years ago after my “non-S.M.A.R.T.” resolution to “learn Spanish” showed up at the top of my list for the fourth time. Since then, my annual practice has evolved to include a reflection on the year behind and vision for the year ahead — and that vision includes a “word of the year.”
You may have heard of WOTYs in December when various dictionaries assign one word to encapsulate the past 365 days. Unlike Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com, and Oxford with their selections of “authentic,” “hallucinate,” and “rizz” for 2023, my WOTY is…
