So I’ve been following a guy called Chris Brogan for quite a few years now, on Twitter and FaceBook and now listening to his podcast. A few years ago he started something called his Three Words, to help focus his goals and vision for the year.

Chris always reveals his words on January 1st. For me, well, here it’s January 5th and I’m still thinking. But then, I’m planning for this year to be one in which I make some big changes. So here are my words.

Courage

Change is scary. It’s only too easy to do what I’ve been doing for the past ten years, keep my head down and stay in the rut. But I’ve got to break out this year. I’m going to need all the courage I can get.

Perseverence

That’s one thing I’ve been missing in my life. It’s not that I can’t finish things – I’ve finished more degrees than one person should have, when there was a clear path ahead of me.  But I tend to get scared and not follow up on things that I’ve planned to do (see courage, above). This year, I’m going to persevere and get things done even when I have to set my course out for myself – so much harder than following somebody else’s program.

Joy

I’m actually pretty good at being joyous, that’s a gift of dopamine from my father for which I am very grateful. But I can see this year being more stressful than others have been recently, so it’s important to remind myself of the importance of joy in my life.

How about you, what are your three words? Let me know!