Why I'm not overly enthusiastic about picking a word of the year, but here I am again ...

Last year I picked the word moxie, which turned out pretty great as a theme for the year. What can I pick that will be equally impactful in 2025?

Last year I wrote about how I dislike the concept of picking a word of the year to guide oneself through the coming 12 months. At the time, I explained how I thought the choice of a guiding word was often trite and just overly fluffy because choosing the word of the year is meaningless if it doesn’t come with an action plan. (Read my deep thoughts —ha/ha in that post here.)

Also last year — rather cheekily and reluctantly(?) — I chose MOXIE as my word of the year. Now, I wasn’t sure exactly what results my grand plans for 2025 might produce, but in the end I was quite pleased with the year’s progress. You can read more about that in How I Moxied the Heck out of 2024!

So here we are — at the jumping off point for 2025 — and folks are asking me what my word of the year might be. I’ve tossed about ideas like productivity - time - scope - schedule - family - prioritize - capacity - endurance - spirit - mettle - substance. Aaah — there are so many words swimming in my head. TIME was tossed about for a long while for its importance as my most valuable asset. BUT the one word I kept coming back to was TANGIBLE.

At first, that might seem an odd word of the year, perhaps. But the more I thought about it the more I liked it. Then I began to LOVE it.

From Vocabulary.com

Tangible is from Latin tangere, "to touch," and it simply means something that can be touched or felt, though it can be used in metaphorical senses: tangible assets have a value that can be precisely measured, and tangible grief can be clearly sensed by an onlooker. So you might not need to physically touch something for it to be tangible, but it has to be grounded in the real world of facts.

And what does that mean for me? I’m focusing on the 2nd definition — clear & definite; real — as in things that are grounded in real world facts or that can be precisely measured or felt. That means chucking the projects with unclear value or time spent on nebulous activities or simply battling the inertia of inaction. It means a greater focus on outcomes and quality in the way I spend my time—so writing work is more focused, family time is more intentional, and even free time is more purposefully planned. I don’t want to get to the end of the week, the month, the year and think “Oh, boy, I wished I had done X with my time.”

Ha—that’s a lot of expectations to put on one little word. We’ll see how I do. I have plans in place to make sure I stay on track. I shall report back—pinky swear!

I would love to know if you’ve chosen a word of the year and what you've done so far to achieve it! Comment below!!