Blog Posts

Discover the Power of One Word in 2023

Over the Christmas break in 2017, I read Mike Smith and Jon Gordon’s You Win in the Locker Room First:  The 7 C’s to Build a Winning Team in Business, Sports, and Life.  In the book, Jon Gordon notes that he has been sharing with many people the simple discipline of developing just One Word as a way to focus your energy for the upcoming year—noting that 90% of New Year’s Resolutions are usually dropped by March. 

Have you taken Jon Gordon’s One Word Challenge?

Instead of creating endless goals and resolutions, choose One Word to be your driving force for the year. No goals. No wish lists. Just one word.

One Word creates clarity, power, passion and life-change. As Gordon explains, “When you discover your One Word for the year, it gives you more clarity, passion and purpose for life.  The One Word exercise brings simplicity and focus. It cuts through the distractions and keeps us focused on what really matters.”

Over the past five years, my One Word has been:

  • 2022 = “Faith” with a focus on the Hall of Faith from Hebrews 11
  • 2021 = “Basic” with a focus on The Apostles’ Creed
  • 2020 = “Sheep” with a focus on Psalm 23
  • 2019 = “Wisdom” with a focus on Proverbs
  • 2018 = “Optimism” with a focus on The Beatitudes

Click here to learn more about my One Word focus and the choices of my Family members

Reflections on 2022

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

I appreciate the Christian Leadership Alliance’s Blog—a Top 100 Leadership Blog as ranked by Feedspot. (On a side note, 2022 marked the year that this blog entered the Top 100 list as well!)

In a post entitled “The Power of Remembering”, Scott Rodin notes, “As the year draws to an end, we have a once-a-year opportunity to look back over the previous 12 months and remember, relive, (and possibly try to forget) the events that shaped our journey that was 2022. We do this in different ways.

I want to encourage you not to miss the value in these times of remembering. I was surprised to learn that the word ‘remember occurs over 231 times in scripture. It’s a major theme throughout the Bible where God calls his people in times of fear and challenge to look back and remember all that he had already done for them.”

To remember, I’ve reviewed pictures from the year—drawn from iPhones, cameras, and Facebook posts—to identify the highlights.

At the end of the post, each family member reflects on her or his Word for 2022 and how it impacted her or his journey this year.

Click here to find my Reflections on 2022