Choose a word for the year

A word of the year is a different way of starting a year. Instead of a list of rules to keep, you choose one word you want the year to feel like. You can do it in ten minutes with a pen and paper, and it costs nothing. Here are some word of the year ideas, and a simple way to choose one that fits you.

When and where

Do it whenever you have ten quiet minutes. Many people choose around the new year, but a Sunday morning, a commute or a lull at the end of the day all work. Find somewhere you won’t be interrupted, put your phone face down and get a pen.

Ask three questions

Write down your answers, a few words each:

1. How should this year feel? Calm, light, steady, alive?
2. What do you want more of? Rest, friends, movement, time outside, creative work?
3. What do you want less of? Rushing, comparison, saying yes when you mean no?

Look at your answers and circle the words that come up more than once, or the ones that make you pause.

Some word ideas

If you’re stuck, these are starting points, not rules:

• For calm: rest, slow, steady, gentle, quiet, ease
• For energy: begin, bold, brave, play, spark, move
• For connection: open, together, kind, present, home
• For focus: simple, enough, focus, finish, choose
• For growth: curious, grow, learn, stretch, try

A word doesn’t need to be impressive. “Enough” is a perfectly good word, and so is “later” if what you need is permission to stop rushing. Plain, ordinary words tend to last the whole year better than grand ones.

How to choose

1. Write a list of ten words that feel right, using the questions and ideas above.
2. Cross out any that feel like a should, such as “productive” if it makes your stomach drop.
3. Narrow to three.
4. Say each aloud, and imagine it written on your wall in December. Which one do you still like?
5. Pick one. If it’s a tie, choose the one you’d be happier to be reminded of on a hard day.

Then write it somewhere you’ll see it: on a sticky note on your mirror, the first page of your planner, your phone’s lock screen, the inside of your wardrobe door. Write a line underneath about why you chose it.

Make it work through the year

• Look at it weekly. A minute on Sunday is enough.
• Ask it small questions. “What would ‘gentle’ look like today?”
• Let it guide small choices, such as how you spend a free Saturday.
• Check in each season. Notice what has changed.
• Change it if it stops fitting. There’s no rule that you must keep it all year.

What goes wrong

• You can’t pick one. Choose the one on top and try it for a month. You can change it.
• The word feels like pressure. Pick one that sounds like a welcome, not an order.
• You forget about it. Put it in two places you look every day.
• It feels silly. That’s fine. A small ritual doesn’t have to be serious to work.
• You compare yours to someone else’s. A word only has to fit you.

After the year

At the end of the year, read what you wrote about it. Notice what changed, and what you want to carry forward. Some people keep a list of their words from past years.

Words from other places

You don’t have to choose an English word. A word from a language you speak, or from your family’s, can hold more meaning for you. A short phrase can work too, if one word doesn’t fit. You could also pick a colour, a symbol or an object, such as a small stone in your pocket, and treat that as your reminder.

Make it a winter morning

Make a hot drink, sit by a window while it’s still dark outside and give yourself the ten minutes. If you want a longer version, you could make a vision board around your word, or share your words with friends at midnight on New Year’s Eve.