My Best Habit: The Word Of The Year

I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions. They are too rigid. They don’t leave space for better ideas. However, every year, I pick a “word of the year”. I use it as a filter for every decision I make throughout the year. For instance, I once picked “Social” and I spent the year consistently looking for opportunities to meet interesting people.

Sure it takes time to find the right word but once you have it, it gets really interesting. I allow myself to test it out in different ways. For instance, I might set up as a goal “I will attend one meetup a week”. If the goal develops into an habit, I simply keep it. And if I don’t like it, I look for another, better goal related to the word. Nice and easy.

My word this year is “Quality”. It translates into a few straightforward goals:

• I’ll go to LeTemps for local news, to The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung for international news and The Economist for trends. I’ll only visit other sources if recommended by a trusted source.
• I’ll follow fewer high-quality Twitter accounts (tough choices) and have already dropped Facebook altogether.
• I’ll increase my meditation practice to 30 minutes a day (InsightTimer is my app of choice). This pretty much means the end of watching TV shows / Youtube.
• I’ve subscribed to a food service (Le Panier Bio à 2 roues) which provides a basket of locally-grown vegetables every week to its users.

And so forth, you get the idea. Some habits will stick and thrive, some will fade away but every time I’ll have a choice to make, I’ll remember the word. It’s been a pleasant and effective way to enjoy each new year in a slightly different way. I highly recommend you try it.