Our natural approach to change is to simply promise to be different. So we make lists of the things we want to change and we make corresponding promises. The promise approach does the opposite of what we intend. Making sweeping commitments may bring clarity to a bunch of areas of our lives, but it does not bring focus.

We end up looking in different directions in order to keep a promise we’ve made in the various areas of our lives. One promise for our physical health, one for our emotional health, one for our professional life, one for our spiritual life, one for our financial world, one for our relational world, and on it goes. We tend to scan our lives in order to manage the promises we’ve made and it leaves us scattered, trying to connect all the loose ends from each of these promises.

But picking a word is about vision. A single word becomes the lens through which you see your entire life. Instead of multiple scattered commitments, you have a single lens that allows you to see the connection between the various areas that our promises tend to divide.

Focus is the key and picking a word forces a focus that our strategy of promise can never provide. So choose ONE WORD—keep it in front of you and look at your life through the lens of just One Word.

Mike A

My One Word for 2019: Behold