2 Critical Questions That Will Shape 2024 + My Word of The Year

Hey Friend!

With any new year comes a few new things such as new plans, goals, dreams, and desires. You have a fresh outlook on life. But often when we start focusing on the new, and we get distracted by the planning process. We get so distracted that we forget to do what is most important, which is implement. I’m going to help you implement this year and I will teach you how to do this based on your word for the year.

If you are anyone like me, you have chosen a word of the year. I will be sharing with you the three words I have for this year and why I chose them. Plus, we are going to ask ourselves two questions that are critical for implementing your word of the year. Moving forward, I will ask myself these two questions every day in order to shape my year. This is how I’m going to implement the big visionary dreams I have. You may have spent the last month vision-planning, but don’t forget to ask yourself these two questions in the end. Let’s dive in.

The Word of The Year Concept

Have you heard of the concept behind having a word of the year? You pick a word that embodies what you want your year to look like or to feel like. This word is what you will build your year upon.

For example, my word in the past was Overflow. I wanted to overflow in all the different areas of my life:

• In how I showed up in my work 

• How to glorify God

• How I showed up as a parent

• My feelings of peace 

• My health and so much more.

I wanted to overflow to a higher capacity in all that I did. Overflow was my word for last year. What is your word of the year for this year?  Share it in our Facebook community at stefgasscommunity.com

Stef’s First Word of The Year: Easy

This year I was at a mastermind event on New Year’s Day and everyone was talking about their words of the year. I hadn’t even thought about it yet for this year, so I closed my eyes and prayed, asking God for help.  I asked Him “What do you want my word to be, God?” Suddenly, I felt this drop into my spirit, and the word was Easy. This feeling of peace flowed through my body as I thought about the word Easy and living out a year with ease. I want everything that I do to feel peaceful and to be intentional. 

I am a Type A, Enneagram 3, go-getter, hustler-type of personality and a natural leader. At times I can be a little high-strung and can easily get distracted. I don’t want to lean into that side of me anymore but rather I want to lean in the opposite direction. It’s important for me to think about what really matters in a particular situation and what I can do to make each situation easier. This will help me to feel more aligned in my spirit.

When I think about the word Easy, I naturally start to shy away from the frustration zone, the comparison zone, and the hustle zone of thinking. Instead, I want to get more into the glorification zone. That is why I chose my word of the year to be Easy.

Stef’s 2nd Word of The Year: Adventure

I also chose a secondary and a tertiary word of the year to supplement my main word, Easy. The second word of the year is Adventure. I am a closet introvert and I love to be in my comfort zone, especially when it comes to things that I can’t control — things such as snowboarding, bungee jumping, or going on a trip with less than 2 weeks to prepare. I like to feel in control, which is natural, but at the same time, I want to stretch in that area this year. 

Ultimately, I want to have more quality time with my family. Since my husband and my 2 sons all have the same love language of quality time, and they love adventure, I know that I need to push myself to be available for them and the quality time they need. It just so happens that the quality time that we spend together involves anything adventurous, like skiing. I don’t want to be left behind, rather I want to join in on the fun. It may be a bit outside of my comfort zone, but I want to be alongside them in all that they choose to do in their adventures.

Stef’s 3rd Word of The Year: Service

The third word I have this year is Service. I have been struggling with asthma for the past 6 months. It is allergy-induced and I now know I am allergic to 45 of 60 allergens. Plus, I am allergic to 5 major foods and also have mild reactions to 20 other foods. 

With holistic and natural choices, I aim to heal my asthma from the inside out. Now I make dietary changes and get allergy infusion shots to increase my tolerance to the things I am allergic to. All of these choices take a lot of time and energy for me, but I know I am going to serve my body well this year with these holistic changes. I’m declaring this year will be my healthiest year ever. 

Not only am I going to serve my body well, but I am going to serve new audiences this year in my online business. One of the big desires I have in my life is to serve one million women in pursuing their calling and for them to take action on it. I want to help them walk into the one thing that God has called them to do and bring it to life in a meaningful and tangible way. In order to do that, I have to serve new audiences and reach new people. 

Implement Your Word(s) of The Year

My 3 words of the year are:

• Easy 

• Adventure

• Service

What are your words of the year? Now that you have your words picked out, next is implementation. Don’t just pick a word and do nothing with it. You need to take action in order to see the year be fulfilled. It’s absolutely meaningless if you don’t tangibly apply these words to your life. The way you can best implement your word(s) of the year is by asking yourself two critical questions.

Two Critical Questions To Ask Yourself 

The two questions derived from my words of the year are going to shape every decision that I am going to make moving forward. They are going to directly impact:

• How I show up in the world

• How I speak

• How I handle conflict

• How I lead my children

• How I serve my spouse

• How I give

• How I host guests

• How I bring content to my audience and so much more.

Everything is going to be impacted by these two questions. Use my two questions exactly or pick your word(s) of the year and reverse engineer the two questions to fit you. Remember do not pick more than three words a year.

I like to call these my holy grail questions. What will your holy grail questions be? Once you choose your two questions, remember that nothing gets done without asking these two questions first.

Question #1: How can this be Easy?

One morning my team and I discovered that one of my email sequences was broken in more places than one. Thankfully, I have my team behind the scenes scrambling to figure it out. I wanted to naturally go into my frustration zone and get annoyed, but instead, I asked the team for more help. I got frustrated at first because I didn’t remember what I did to cause this problem with my email sequence. Before my frustration got worse, I stopped and asked myself the question, “How can this be easy?” This helped me to take a deep breath, pause, and come back to the situation from a place of ease.

Sometimes Easy can be tactical. First I need to get in the right head space and then take 10 minutes to reverse engineer the problem. In this particular situation with the email sequence, I took a moment to clearly articulate to my team the problem so they have what they need to problem solve.

Other times Easy can be mental. Ask yourself these supplemental questions:

• How can I approach this from a place of ease in my spirit?

• How can I be kind, compassionate, and understanding as I work on this issue?

After I asked these questions, I was able to come back to the problem with a place of ease. 

Question #2: Does this glorify God?

The second question comes from my other 2 words: Adventure and Service

When I think of these two words, two thoughts come to mind:

• Glorifying God in the way that I show up for my family

• Glorifying God in the way I treat my body and the way I shepherd and steward the woman that I serve.

Both of these words of the year have to do with glorifying God in these other areas of my life. With that said, my questions need to be “Does this glorify God?” Before I say yes to an opportunity, first can I say yes to the question “Does it glorify God?”

Before I get flustered about going on a trip that was unplanned, completely unexpected, and had less than 2 weeks to plan and pack, I need to ask myself, “Does this glorify God?” If the answer is yes, then I am going to do it. If the answer is no, then I’m not doing it.

Use These Two Questions to Shape and Frame Your Year

These two holy grail questions are going with me every day with every major decision I make in my life. When it comes to a decision revolving around parenting, marriage, my service to others, my business, health, and everywhere else I show up, I will ask these questions. 

These two questions are going to shape and frame my year based on my words for the year.

1. How can this be easy?
2. Does this glorify God?

Now it’s your turn. If you haven’t picked your word for the year yet, this is the time to do it. Next, build out your holy grail questions from your word of the year. Next, share them in the free Facebook community. We’d love to see what direction you take this.

Step 5: Accountability and Tracking System

If you have not had the opportunity to watch my two free workshops, be sure to take the time to do that so you can continue to grow your online business. They are incredibly relevant to a brand new year. The first workshop is to help you get clear on what to do when starting a business. Head on over to clarityworkshop.com to access that free training. If you want to learn how to make consistent income from a podcast, go on over to podcastforgrowth.com.

I pray that this brand new year for you is full of beautiful blessings from the Lord and that you are filled with curious confidence about what He has for you. I pray that you can discern from distractions, diminish obstacles, crush them, and get them out of your way so you can step forward in big courageous faith this year. Follow God’s plan that He has for your life and I pray He uses you to help those people who come your way.

I pray this blesses you!

Xo,

Stef

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This free workshop is for you if you want to grow an online business in less time.

It will teach you how to explode your audience without the social media hustle, make consistent sales using a podcast, and plan, record, and launch a podcast with ease!

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Podcast Launch Plan — Get Your Podcast Done By the New Year

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How to Analyze Your Goals, Success Metrics, and KPI’s at Mid-Year

The Numbers and Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) You Should Be Tracking in Your Online Business & Podcast

My Quarterly Goal Review Process! Time to Inventory Those God-Sized Dreams & Goals, Girls!

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