“As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.” – Patrick Rothfuss, The Name Of The Wind
A wonderful jumble and organisation of letters creates a single word. A single word; one that can create power, strength of focus, encapsulate a vision, supports decision-making; one that can drive meaning, momentum and purpose; one that can build and, at its worse, destroy.
What word best describes you, your business philosophy, your leadership, your goals for 2019? The word that when summed up drives you, your way of thinking, your way of doing and being.
Like many of us, as we approach the start of a new year, I spend some time looking back at the year that has been – identifying what worked well, the successes, the achievements, the steps forward and equally the learnings and improvements. More importantly, I think about what I want to achieve in the year ahead for my family, my business and myself.
We all know the importance of goal setting as it’s drummed in to us from an early age.
A supposed study by Harvard Business School (which by the way is often said to be fake as there doesn’t exist a single piece of verifiable evidence) found 84% of graduates had no specific goals at all, 13% had goals but were not written down, and only 3% had clear written goals and a strategy to accomplish them.
The result? The 3% who had written goals and a strategy were earning on average 10x as much as the other 97% combined!
Now whether or not the Harvard Business School study is true, it does highlight the fact that to achieve your goals, they need to be written out and a focused plan developed to achieve them.
So how will you word up in 2019?
You may say ‘a single word can’t achieve goals for you’. And you may well be correct – it is just a word, after all.
The reality is that without planning, and effort, and pure hard slog, nothing will happen. But what that word does is create focus. It highlights in permanent fluorescent yellow marker the tangible; because words do have power. They tell everybody else a little bit about you. They say ‘this is X. They see themselves this way – and yes, their actions match the word, so take them seriously’.
Independence. Profitability. Freedom. Growth. Fearless. Happy. Badass. Rockstar. Harvest. These are all words that may apply to where you want to be in 2019.
Don’t be frightened to make your word a strong one. You may choose a number of words or even a phrase. The point is anchor the year ahead on something that matters and has meaning for you.
YOU have the ability to change your game. YOU can challenge your status quo. Become someone that matters, be your best, shine your light and help others to equally become the best of them.
Go on – word up. Find your own jumble of what will be meaningless letters to anyone else – but to you, may be the difference between ‘I might have been’ and ‘I will be’ in 2019.
If you were wondering… mine is FLY. FLY = expansion, growth, freedom, creation, momentum in the areas of my work, my family and me.
Onwards and upwards!
