Well this new year of ours is only a week old! How’s it going for you? If you made resolutions, I hope you’re sticking with them. If you set goals, are you still on track?
I don’t do New Year’s resolutions or goals (at least goals the way “normal” people do).
Yet, there’s something so wonderfully inspiring about a fresh new year filled with possibilities. I think that’s why so many make resolutions. We watch the odometer roll over and reset . . . why wouldn’t we mark the moment by deciding to reset our lives?
Hoots and Thomas are no different. We need a way of focusing our intention and attention. We want a way to mark this new beginning.
Four years ago we begin choosing a word that would represent both our hope for the year and to describe how planned to go about the year. Without fail our “Word of the Year” has profoundly influenced that year.
In 2010 our word was EXPERIENCE.
In 2011 our word was FIT.
In 2012 our word was CELEBRATE.
In 2013 our word was RESOLVE. You can read about last year’s word choice here.
Interestingly, we’ve discovered that these “Words of the Year” continue to exert influence for more than a year. EXPERIENCE was our first Word of the Year. We realized that we didn’t want stuff we wanted more EXPERIENCES. We wove EXPERIENCE into our personal lives and we still value experiences more than anything. We still concentrate on FIT (both in our professional relationships and our personal lives) to this day. We seek moments to CELEBRATE. We are RESOLVED to live this life as well as possible and to bring significant income solutions to our clients.
Our word of the year for 2014 is: REFINE.
Choosing a Word of the Year never comes easy for us. This is an important choice that we want to do it well and carefully. Just like every year, Hoots and I had several words we tried on for size. But unlike other years, we came to agreement quickly. REFINE seemed right to both of us without much debate.
Dictionary.com says this about REFINE:
1. to bring to a fine or pure state; free from impurities; to refine metal, sugar, or petroleum.
2. to purify from what is coarse, vulgar, or debasing; make elegant or cultured (OK, I’m not as wild about this part of the definition, although there are those who’ll say I need it).
3. to bring to a finer state or form by purifying.
4. to make more fine, subtle, or precise; to refine one’s writing style.
How does REFINE fit?
We want to continue to improve as individuals. We’re going to focus on improving our lives, our skills, our relationships.
We want to continue to grow as a couple. We want to grow closer and learn more about this “partners in all things” life.
We want to continue to develop as business partners. We continue to focus on how to bring out the best in each other personally.
For Oneicity, we want our growing company to continue to flourish. God’s blessed us with opportunities that we want to respond to faithfully. As we end our 6th year and begin our 7th year, we’re concentrating on making our processes better, expanding our reach and maturing every phase of our business. We’ve grown so fast that it’s been difficult to think about “refining.” We believe this is the year we refine what’s already been working well. I get pretty pumped just thinking about it.
What about you? Do you pick a word (or two or three) for the year? I’d love to know what your word is!
Steve Thomas
Partner, Oneicity
(photo credit: Biblio Archives_Library Archives)
