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

Hey Friend!

New plans, goals, dreams, and desires come with any new year. You have a fresh outlook on life. But often, when we start focusing on the latest, we get distracted by the planning process. We get so distracted that we forget to do what is most important: implement. I will help you implement this year and teach you how to do this based on your word for the year.

If you are anything like me, you have chosen a word for the year. I will share with you the three words I have for this year and why I chose them. We will also ask ourselves two critical questions about implementing our word of the year.

Moving forward, I will ask myself these two daily questions 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 or 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,

• In how I showed up Glorifying God,

• In how I showed up as a parent,

• In how I showed up in my emotions,

• In how I showed up in 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.

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 did to feel peaceful and 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 feel more aligned in my spirit.

When I think about the word Easy, I naturally start to shy away from the frustration, comparison, and hustle zones of thinking. Instead, I want to enter 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 two 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 two sons have the same love language of quality time, and adventure, I push myself to be available, giving them the quality time they need. It just so happens that the quality time that we spend together involves anything adventurous, like skiing, and I don’t want to be left behind. 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, but I know they will serve my body well this year. 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, the next step is implementation. Don’t just pick a word and do nothing with it. You need to take action to see the year be fulfilled. It’s meaningless if you don’t tangibly apply these words to your life. You can best implement your word(s) by asking yourself two critical questions.

Two Critical Questions to Ask Yourself 

The two questions derived from my words of the year will shape every decision I make moving forward. They will impact directly:

• 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 them exactly, or pick the 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 yours be? Once you choose your two questions, remember that nothing gets done without asking them 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 than one place. Thankfully, my team was scrambling behind the scenes to figure it out. I wanted to naturally get annoyed and go into my frustration zone, 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 worsened, I stopped and asked myself, “How can this be easy?” This helped me take a deep breath, pause, and return to the situation from a place of ease.

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

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 could return to the problem from a place of ease. 

Question #2: Does This Glorify God?

The second question comes from my other two 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 women that I serve

These words of the year relate to glorifying God in these other areas of my life. My question needs to be, “Does this glorify God?” Before I say yes to an opportunity, I must first answer, “Does it glorify God?”

Before I get flustered about going on an unplanned, completely unexpected trip with less than two weeks to plan and pack, I need to ask myself, “Does this glorify God?” If the answer is yes, then I will do it. If the answer is no, then I will not.

Use These Two Questions to Shape and Frame Your Year

These two holy grail questions go with me daily with every major decision I make. 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 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(s) of the year.

Step 5: Accountability and Tracking System

If you have not had the opportunity to check out what I offer, be sure to do so so you can continue to grow your online business. Clarify Your Calling, helps you clarify what to do when starting a business. The second resource, Profitable Podcast Bootcamp, is for anyone wanting to learn how to make a consistent income from a podcast.

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 for your life. I pray He uses you to help anyone who comes your way.

I pray this blesses you!

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