What is Your One Word this Year? 236 Ideas + Free Printable!
Have you ever heard of the one word challenge?
Learn how choosing one word can help focus all of your goals for an entire year!
What is the One Word Challenge?
The one word challenge was originally created by Jon Gordon, Dan Britton, and Jimmy Page; the authors of One Word that Will Change Your Life.
Why choose a word of the year?
The idea behind one word is “to overcome distractions and bring more focus, purpose, commitment and success” in the coming year.
Instead of creating resolutions and goals, choose one word that will be your guiding force for the year.
My One Word Examples
I can’t remember where I initially learned about the One Word concept, but it is something I have adopted into my life for at least the past 7 years.
Each year my word changes and sets the tone for all of my goals and intentions for the year. Sometimes I choose the word and other times, the word chooses me.
Years ago, my spouse was going through a particularly difficult time. I wanted to shake him and tell him to get it together but I knew that wouldn’t work.
So at the beginning of that new year, I chose the word COMPASSION.
It guided me through the year when times were tough and he was whirling through a personal crisis.
There were days when I wanted to lash out, yell, and even walk away.
But my helpful word COMPASSION got me and my family through it.
I even bought a Circle of Compassion necklace that I wore all year long. It helped remind me that having compassion would help him and guide me to make the right decisions for my family along the way.
Funny thing is, it turned out to be helpful with my parents, too.
My mom was dying of breast cancer and my dad was struggling seeing his wife of nearly 50 years suffering. I cared for them through her final weeks and COMPASSION gave me the guidance I needed to stay the course and be strong for both of them.
I had more pain that year than I’d had my entire life. But my word COMPASSION gave me strength I never knew I had.
It was a long and emotionally draining year but now, I’m so thankful I chose that word.
Another year, I made the difficult decision to close my online store.
This choice came after 20 years of having a brick-and-mortar and online store. I didn’t know what the next chapter was going to be for me or my business but I knew it was time to make a change.
So I chose the word FORWARD to help guide me. The word did not let me down!
It was the beacon I needed with every step I took. It forced me to pivot and look at my business with fresh eyes.
Last year the word FOCUS was my driver. I took a blog that was receiving 6k visitors per month to more than 300k visitors. FOCUS helped me triple my YouTube followers. FOCUS helped me create online courses.
It was all because I FOCUSED on only doing the things that would drive people to my website (not this one) and add value to their lives.
2021 is no different. I used my best tips for choosing a word (see below) and the word I’ve chosen this year is GROW.
I can’t wait to see what the year holds with this word and how I will incorporate it into my life.
What will your word be? I’ve got lots of One Word ideas for you later in this post!
How do you choose One Word of the year?
Choosing One Word is a very personal thing. No one can tell you what your One Word will be because we all have different challenges and goals we need to overcome.
In addition, your One Word will change year after year as you grow and change.
Best tips for choosing and using your One Word
Think of where you are now and where you want to be. What are your goals? What do you want to focus on? Write those ideas down. You may begin to see a few words emerge from this exercise.
Answer these questions. What are words that inspire you? What words help guide you to be the best version of yourself? What is lacking in your life?
Make a list. You can choose your own words or pick some from the One Word list below.
Review your list. Narrow down to one word that will guide your year.
Try out your One Word. Write it in the front of your bullet journal or planner. Hang it over your desk. Put it on a sticky note and hang it on your computer.
Journal about your One Word and how you can use it in various areas of your life including health, wealth, love, fitness, family, career, spiritual, personal development, and home.
Reflect. After one month, take a moment to think about your One Word and how it’s working for you. Is it aligned with your goals? If not, choose another word from your list. Don’t think you failed at the One Word challenge. It just wasn’t the right fit for you at the moment. Just pick another word and make it your focus.
236 One Word Ideas
Are you having trouble thinking of One Word ideas? That’s okay! I’ve got 236 interesting One Word ideas for you to choose from or perhaps they will inspire you to choose a word not on this list.
There is a FREE PDF printable of this list at the end of the post.
Pro Tip: You can also use these words as journal prompts. Print out the list and tuck it in the back of your journal so you never run out of writing ideas.
abundance
absorb
action
adept
add
advance
adventure
affect
align
alive
allow
anchor
appreciate
authentic
awareness
awe
balance
be
beautiful
become
begin
believe
belong
better
best
big
bliss
bloom
bold
boss
boundaries
brave
breathe
build
calm
capable
care
celebrate
centered
challenge
change
cherish
clarity
cleanse
clear
comfort
commit
compassion
complete
confidence
connect
conquer
consistent
contemplate
courage
create
cultivate
declutter
dedicate
deliberate
design
determination
devote
direction
dream
driven
ease
elevate
emerge
empower
encourage
energy
enlighten
enough
enthusiasm
evolve
excite
exhale
expand
explore
faith
family
fearless
fierce
finish
flourish
flow
focus
forgive
forward
freedom
fun
future
generous
gentle
give
glow
go
goals
grace
gratitude
grounded
grow
habit
harmony
happiness
heal
healing
healthy
hero
hope
humble
hustle
ignite
imagine
immerse
improve
increase
influence
innovate
inspire
intention
journey
joy
kindness
laugh
lead
learn
less
light
lighten
listen
live
love
magical
manifest
meditate
mindful
mission
moment
momentum
money
more
move
movement
now
nature
nurture
opportunity
organize
passion
patience
pause
peace
persevere
persist
positive
possible
power
practice
pray
present
progress
prosper
purpose
question
quiet
receive
reclaim
reflect
relax
release
reliable
renew
renewal
reset
resolve
respect
rest
rise
sacrifice
satisfy
seek
self-care
self-love
serenity
serve
share
shift
shine
simplify
slow
smile
soar
solve
soul
spark
sparkle
spirit
steady
still
streamline
strength
strive
strong
success
support
surrender
survive
teach
think
transcend
transform
thrive
trust
truth
try
unique
unleash
unlimited
understand
unstoppable
upwards
value
vibrant
vitality
wander
wealth
whole
why
win
wish
wonder
work
worthy
