What’s your word for 2024?
As a business owner, I’ve never felt compelled to pick a “word of the year.”
I’m not sure why that is.
But this year's different. As 2023 closed out, I felt the pull to pick not only one word for 2024 but two.
Because who made the rule of one word? And why on earth do we need to follow it?
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My two words.
I believe these two words chose me.
They’ve insistently presented themselves in a variety of forms over the past few months. And, in response, I’ve chosen to listen.
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TRUST
This is a big one. My lack of trust was reflected to me via a coach I've been working with.
I’ve done enough “work” to understand the source. But what I’ve come to see is that knowledge and understanding are not enough.
Without practicing trust (or recognizing when I’m not), it’s, well, just a word.
So, in 2024, I will practice trust:
In Life
In the Universe, God, Spirit
In others
In myself. While I’m better at this than I give myself credit for, there are always opportunities to choose it again.
I was reminded of this when a friend shared the following (timely) quote from Simon Sinek:
“We have to trust ourselves before we can ask others to trust us.”
When I think about trust now, I sense freedom and opportunity.
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CURIOSITY
The power curiosity has also been popping up — on podcasts, in particular. And in two ways…
✨ First, following curiosity as a means of opening to creativity.
The writer Elizabeth Gilbert is an evangelist of this approach… see "Big Magic."
“We are constantly being told to pursue our passions in life, but there are times when passion is a TALL ORDER, and really hard to reach…But curiosity, I have found, is always within reach.”
For me, this means permitting myself to follow my curiosity. Letting myself “go down rabbit holes” with no intended outcome and not thinking of it as a “waste of time.”
Being aware of when I cut myself off, not allowing myself to take even the first step. This awareness is a gift. And I'm trying to honor it.
✨ Second, following curiosity as a means of mental and emotional inquiry.
There was a podcast that presented this idea → if you’re overwhelmed by intense emotion or stuck in a repetitive thought pattern, and you’re able to stop and recognize it, then you can get curious:
What’s going on? What’s the emotion or thought right now? Can you name it?
And try to identify the source. Is it an old thought or belief? Is there a current circumstance that triggered something inside to bring it to your attention?
When you get curious, you move out of being controlled by the emotion or perceiving it as being you. It creates space.
This brings the experience out of your limbic brain and into your pre-frontal cortex where you can do something with it. This is a potentially life-changing practice.
Curiosity as a way of life creates possibility.
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What are your words for 2024?
And how will you apply them in your business and life?
Connect with me here and let me know.
p.s. I recently added “ease” as a third word… more of ithat, please.
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