What’s the Word? Inspire Yourself with a Personal Word of the Year
- Jodi Blake
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
We find ourselves at the end of January – already one month of 2026 nearly done! How are your New Year’s resolutions going? I didn’t set any myself (too many past years of starting strong with resolutions and abandoning them in a few weeks with a whimper). I hope you’re doing better with yours and have the determination and focus to keep at them!
Despite not setting resolutions on January 1, I continue to use challenges to encourage myself to make progress on my crafting projects or other goals. I find challenges very motivating because you create the challenge to meet your goals and you set the rules and milestones. That means you can be as rigid or flexible as you want with a challenge. (Note: I wrote about creating your personal challenge plan in an earlier blog post, if you’re wanting to explore that option.)
If you’re more like me, then you may be looking for a more flexible motivator to help you work on goals, make improvements and change habits. That’s why I’m turning to a word of the year for 2026. It’s a word that can provide guidance for what I want to be mindful about in the coming months, including my perspective on life, the interactions I have with others or how I want to focus on things that affect me.
Choosing a Personal Word of the Year
There aren’t any set steps for choosing a meaningful word. That fact may be good or bad news for you. But it’s really a matter of discovering what’s important to you and how you want to focus your energies during the coming year (or another timeframe).
Here are some suggestions for getting started:
Reflect on how you envision the coming year – how do you want to feel, what do you want to do, what’s important to you, how do you want to make a difference or make a change. You might create a vision board or prioritize which visions of your life, career and world are most important to you.
Write down inspirational words that you connect with in some way. How do these words make you feel – strong, motivated, excited or some other emotion that’s important to you?
Consider using the verb form of your word if you want to promote taking action to meet goals. Maybe instead of “collaboration,” you might find “collaborate” provides a more encouraging rally cry. But if another form of the word seems to fit better or captures your vision, priorities or aspirations, then go with it.
Review lists of sample words of the year for ideas and decide if any of them capture what you want your focus to be. Here are some possible lists to check out:
From your list, narrow down the options by thinking about how you could manifest each word in the coming year. Keep the stronger candidates and continue the process until you settle on the word that will best help you set your desired mindset.
Also, don’t worry if you haven’t chosen a word at the beginning of January. If the idea of a guiding or inspirational word of the year sounds appealing and useful, then just get started brainstorming and put it into practice no matter what month is on the calendar.
Applying a Personal Word of the Year
Once you’ve decided on a guiding word, then it’s time to figure out how you want to put it into practice. Again, there is no specific formula because it’s your personal interpretation of what this word means to you and how you want to manifest it in your life.
Brainstorming ideas for how you can tailor your goals is a good place to start. If you want to explore more and expand your knowledge base, you might have selected “curiosity” as your word. You could read books or watch documentaries about specific topics or find an online class to take. To gain hands-on experience, you might volunteer with an organization related to your area of interest. Also, encouraging yourself to ask more questions or do some extra research can fulfill your quest for curiosity.
Make it visible -- literally. Post your word of the year in places you look at often -- a sticky note on your bathroom mirror, a framed sign on your desk, a customized screensaver on your laptop or cell phone, or a representative sticker on the front of your notebook or on each monthly page of your calendar/planner. Let that word bring you frequent inspiration and focus.
Taking stock periodically about how you’re weaving the intentions of your word of the year allows you to reflect on your progress, re-energize yourself with new goals or motivations for the next weeks or months, and realize how much you’re gaining from this new way of focusing your life.
Perhaps you want to capture some of this journey more permanently in a journal or share your thoughts with a close friend or family member.
My Word of the Year for 2026
I selected “connect” as my personal word of the year. It’s important to me to focus on staying connected to what’s already important in my life but also to make new connections. That’s because I’m learning how to live in two different parts of the country; my husband and I are splitting our time between St. Louis and Leland, North Carolina (near Wilmington). I’ve always lived in the Midwest where I have lots of friends and most of my immediate family. It’s exciting to experience a new area (we’re about 30 minutes from beaches along the Atlantic Ocean) but without knowing a lot of people yet.
I’m also looking forward to exploring this area of North Carolina, so I feel more grounded here. Wilmington is a fascinating city (as most are, to be fair), and I can’t wait to learn more about its history and understand more about the land and water. Our home is close to a south branch of the Cape Fear River, and the coastal waters are fascinating terrains so different from what I’m used to.
To me, connecting isn’t just about people and the physical area I live in. I also want to connect more with my health and work on being more active. I want to feel connected to the crafts I enjoy making with my hands and giving as gifts to special people in my life.
Some of my initial thoughts about how I can “connect” in 2026 include the following:
Start walking in our new subdivision to meet neighbors.
Signed up to donate blood in our new subdivision on March 2.
Text Kathy, a quilter in Wilmington who is a cousin-in-law of my quilting friend Mary back in Missouri. I’m hoping Kathy and I can meet at an area quilt store or for a coffee.
Once back in St. Louis, make plans to meet up with my college girlfriends and another friend I worked with for many years.
Schedule a trip to Chicago to hang out with many of my friends from our years living there.
Explore the Wilmington area. First on my list are visiting the Fort Fisher Historic Site and the restored Battleship North Carolina.
Find and try out new healthy entrée recipes.
Begin building stronger arm muscles. (I already purchased 3-pound weights and found a couple videos with arm exercises.)
Sew quilts and other items using fabrics from my stash to rediscover the treasures I already have. (I just started sewing the blocks for a wall hanging – without buying any new fabric.)
Find charitable organizations for which I can sew needed items as donations. (I already have supplies to make reusable menstrual pad kits to donate to the Pad Project through the Too Little Children organization.)
I know there will be time for more reflection this year about more ways I can “connect.” Then when 2026 comes to a close, it will be rewarding to look back on what I’ve accomplished and learned, how I’ve grown and improved myself, and in what ways I’ve made the world a bit better through connecting.
If you’ve selected a personal word of the year and want to share it, leave a comment below.
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~ Heather M. and Jodi B.
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