Choosing a Word of the Year: How One Intentional Word Can Guide Your Life and Work
"A single word, chosen with care, becomes a powerful guiding compass"
For a long time now, I’ve had a practice of choosing a word or theme for the year ahead.
This is not a goal, nor a resolution, but rather a word that acts as a reference point, a single reminder I use throughout the year as a compass for what is most important.
Over time, I have noticed that this practice has the power to capture the energy behind our intentions and areas of focus. It is also a simple and light way to keep what matters most top of mind.
The connection between a single word and the achievement of some of my key objectives has been very clear in my own life over the last few years.
2024 - Freedom
In 2024, my word was Freedom.
That year marked a significant transition for me. After eight years working in the consultancy space, I stepped away and focused fully on building my own coaching business.
Freedom was not something I had consistently experienced in my professional life. Interestingly, what expanded my sense of freedom that year was not doing less, but becoming more deliberate:
Setting clearer boundaries around work.
Being more intentional with relationships.
Committing to my health through training and nutrition.
Today, I run a successful coaching practice. I see clients three days a week and use the rest of my time to create and experience the level of freedom I had craved for so long.
That one word from 2024 is still alive today in the way I work and in how I prioritise my life; the word Freedom came intuitively and organically.
2025 - Reach
In 2025, however, the process was different.
My word last year was Reach. At the beginning, I did not fully understand why I had chosen it. Its meaning was unclear, yet it was the word that resonated the most.
Over time, it revealed itself.
On a professional level, 2025 became the year I started reaching beyond my immediate circle. I committed to writing consistently, something I had never considered part of my identity. By the end of the year, I had written and published 24 newsletters.
That practice allowed me to share tools and perspectives with a much broader audience, quite literally expanding my reach.
On a personal level, Reach expressed itself in a different way.
For much of my 40s, I was focused on creating stability; financially, emotionally, and physically. There was value in that focus, and it was necessary. At the same time, it came with a seriousness that narrowed my world.
In 2025, I began travelling again. I reached out to new places, new communities, and new friendships. Turkey. Greece. Bali. Australia. Each place expanded something internally, not through constant movement, but through presence and connection.
Only in hindsight did I realise how accurately that word reflected a year in which I reached further than I had in the previous decade, both personally and professionally.
Choosing a Word for 2026
When it came time to choose my word for 2026, no single word came up organically. Instead, a few themes kept resurfacing.
Adventure, reflecting a renewed openness to travel and stepping outside familiar rhythms.
Empowerment, especially after some important relationships in my life went through transitions, reminding me of the importance of finding my own power.
I also considered Growth, but that did not quite land. Growth has already been present. What I sensed ahead was something more spacious.
And then there was Joy.
Joy as presence.
Joy as aliveness.
Joy as allowing life to be experienced, not only managed.
In my 40s, I spent a great deal of time being serious about building stability. That seriousness served me. And at the same time, it often eclipsed lightness, play, and enjoyment.
As I sat with all of these words, another one began to surface, one that could hold them all.
My Word for 2026 is Expansion
For me, Expansion captures movement without force. It allows for uncertainty. It invites openness rather than pressure.
It includes adventure, without the need to escape.
It includes empowerment, without isolation.
It includes joy, without denying responsibility.
On a professional level, I know this will be a year of expansion for my work. I want to grow my impact and make the tools I have learned over the years available to more people.
I do not yet know exactly how that will take shape, whether through group spaces, self-facilitated processes, or new formats that have not yet revealed themselves.
Having Expansion as a compass helps me stay connected to intention rather than outcome.
On a personal level, Expansion asks something different:
Moving beyond comfort zones.
Questioning limiting beliefs.
Expanding my circle of friends and learning how to create and sustain community.
Expansion will be the word that carries me through 2026 with a clear commitment to new horizons across my personal, professional, and spiritual growth.
My Invitation to You
I share my process of finding a word of the year in the hope that it inspires you to go through a similar reflection.
Your word does not need to be big or impressive.
It does not need to be explained to anyone else.
It only needs to inspire you and serve as a reminder that brings you back to yourself throughout the year.
Here are a few questions to support your reflection:
As you step into this year, what feels most important to honour?
What have you postponed that is quietly asking for your attention again?
What quality are you ready to experience more of, not because you lack it, but because you are available for it?
How would you recognise that you are living your word, rather than simply thinking about it?
If you need more inspiration, here is a list of Human Core Values that might help you.
If you want to connect your word of the year to specific objectives and core values, you can go through my Creating 2026 process or download the Guidebook.
Alternatively, if you’d prefer the one-page ‘cheat sheet’, you can download the One-Page Action Plan for 2026.
Wishing you a year guided by intention, honesty, and expansion, in whatever form that takes for you.
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