Have you heard of a word of the year? If you answered NO, don’t feel bad I hadn’t heard of this concept until this year. One of my friends, Lia Keith shared her word of the year in a Facebook post. That was the first time encounter I had with the phrase word of the year. I was familiar with New Year Resolutions but not word of the year. I thought it was a cute, positive thinking thing Lia was doing.

Then while catching up on New Year’s festivities with KBS she asked me what my word of the year was? “Excuse me I replied. What’s a word of the year?” She went on to explain how all “real” bloggers establish a word of the year at the beginning of the calendar year to serve as s  guiding post. All activities should in some shape or form connect to and/or stem from one’s word of the year. Since I’m aspiring to be a “real blogger”  as KBS spoke about the concept I made a mental note to further explore.

Fast forward a few days, I’m in the middle of reviewing various blog templates and layouts for my new blog, www.carpediemwithjasmine.com (YAY) and I found this post, http://blog.livlane.com/2012/12/word-of-the-year/ on Live Lane’s blog about her word of the year. I instantly thought “OK….UNIVERSE, I hear you loud and clear, maybe I need to come up with my very own word of the year.”  I did a little research on word of the year and I found a Word of the Year Discovery Tool, on Christine Kane’s blog

Immediately after downloading Christine’s tool the word, ACTION popped into my head. Then the word UNLIMITED came to mind. I shared with my mom that I was trying to come up with a word of the year and she suggested LIGHT (light as a verb not a noun…she’s been telling me that I need to be like a moth and light for few years now (I think it stems from her desire for me to settle down and start pushing out babies, aka grandchildren). Anyway, I decided to take some time to allow the words to marinate in my mind. Christine suggest that a word of the year should:

1. Teach you about you.

2. Be ONE. FREAKING. WORD.

3. Be CLEAR

After some serious reflection I decided that my 2013 word of the year is UNLIMITED.

• As I chart new waters as a consultant I know it will be important to remember that there UNLIMTED opportunities for me to thrive and be successful.
• I believe that operating from a mindset of UNLIMITED will help me block out fear and negativity when it tries to creep in and tell me that I can’t or there isn’t enough.
• As a person of faith I believe my heavenly father has provided me with UNLIMTED amount of tools and resources to leverage.

Photo Credit: Etsy, FleurDesignsJewelry

If you haven’t chosen a word of the year I would encourage you to select one. Be honest are you still actively working on/or engaging in your New Year’s Resolutions? It’s only February you have 10 months left in this year. A word of the year can shift your mindset by providing a conscious level of focus.

What’s your 2013 word of the year?

Carpe Diem