My One Word for 2018 is Intent

For a couple of years now, i have been moving away from the idea of listing a whole heap of goals and new year resolutions to instead focus on one word. Goals and yearly reviews are still a practice in my workplace, but I find the structure slow and somewhat stifling.

In 2016, my word was capacity. Stemming from my experience of supporting teachers, I realised that it was no good having a whole heap of ideas and ideals if those I was working with were not in a position to take them anywhere.

Developing on this, my word in 2017 was communication. I felt that one of the challenges associated with building capacity was how to actually communicate this change. This was a message that had been made clear on a number of fronts so was therefore an obvious focus.

Ever since I wrote my reflection on communication I have been struggling to think of a word for 2018. Unlike previous years, there has not been anything that stands out. This is not to say that I do not have areas to develop, but to collect these into one word is hard.

Then I read this by Seth Godin:

You can live on old habits for a while, but the future depends on investing in finding and building some new ones with (and for) your customers. Or your family. Or yourself.

The most powerful insight is that you can do it with intent. You can decide that you want some new habits, and then go get them.

I realised that my word for 2018 is intent. For me, this is about many things, including:

• The stories I am adding to through my actions and the choices I make or are made for me. This includes the projects and ventures I participate in.
• Outcomes being worked towards, whether it be a better web or supporting schools with technical efficiency.
• How I reflection upon my learning. Although this blog is a part of that process, I still need to work on being more structured.

So what about you? What is your word for 2018? Are there any books or resources that you would recommend to support mine? As always, comments welcome.

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My One Word for 2018 is Intent by Aaron Davis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.